Immanuel Wallerstein

Motive lies behind every action we take, and can often cause an action that is seemingly good to become immoral. The motives behind our beliefs are no exception, and as a result Christians are subject to immoral Christian belief; an immorality that lies in the motive and not in the consequence. When one devotes oneself to Christianity under desires other than to seek the truth and find God, the faith loses its validity and becomes one of mercenary affairs instead of Godly affairs. These desires…

Charles Darwin once said, “A moral being is one who is capable of comparing his past and future actions or motives, and of approving or disapproving of them”. Darwin’s insight into morality is often challenged by the inherent imperfection of human nature. For instance, assimilation is one of many experiences that can have an impact on one’s values and beliefs. However, the interplay between assimilation and moral integrity is not straightforward, but rather depends on one’s identity. Niska and…

This paper will analyze two out of the Three Primary Schools of Ethics. The theories used are the deontological and consequentialist. In this circumstance the justice system resorted to the use of the deontological theory, or the rule-based thinking. This specific principle focuses on respecting the basic dignity of human beings, and simply doing the right thing in every situation. In this particular case, I have chosen to use the deontological and care based theories to come up with solutions.…

The Scottish philosopher David Hume produced a description and analysis of the relation of cause and effect and our use of it in reasoning about matters of fact. Hume’s analysis was able to wake the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) from his so called dogmatic slumber. From the awakening of Kant comes the questions Why did Hume’s arguments wake Kant from his dogmatic slumber? And what is Kant’s response to Hume’s analysis and how successful is Kant in his response to Hume? In…

I think the two ethical philosophies that are the closest fit with my personal views are deontology and utilitarianism. At first glance, it would appear that these two philosophies oppose each other. Deontology focuses on the act itself and that “the end never justifies the means.” While on the other hand, utilitarianism focuses on the outcome and that “the end always justifies the means.” Personally, I think there are certain components of each, and different situations/contexts, in which I…

Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who lived 1724-1804, and John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher who lived 1806-1873, were two of the greatest moral philosophers of all time. Mill presents and defends the moral theory of Utilitarianism while Kant rejects that theory and defends his own moral theory. According to Kant, the moral worth of an action is not determined by the consequences that result from it, but rather by the motive from which the action was performed. The only thing that is…

thinking from religion to reason. Because of this shift of the dominant ideologies, philosophers attempted to explain morality through empirical means rather than attributing morality to God. Two of the most influential philosophers of this period were Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This essay will show how Kant’s perspective of freedom and morality was inspired by Rousseau and how the way in which Kant’s view of freedom relates to his idea of the moral law is due to his view of…

The Explanations of Morals (Kant, Mill, Aristotle and Held) Morals (mor – als) Noun; plural 1. a lesson, especially one concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information or an experience. 2. a person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. This essay intends point out the relevant aspects of moral theologians, Kant, Mill, Aristotle and Held and to answer the question of the best suited approach…

Values and ethics are an important aspect of working within the human services profession. It is important for workers to have a good understanding of not only their own, but their organisational and professional values and ethics. Values and ethics play a major role in group work, whether it is obvious to participants or not. This essay will examine firstly the group development process, how the group was formed, some of the issues that we ran into and what ethical theories were used within the…

Deontological and teleological theories are two extremities of normative ethics that represent a spectrum of judging morality based on intent, action, and consequence. While the two may seem like a dichotomy at first a juxtaposition of the two will reveal the commonalities as well as differences. To better understand these viewpoints an examination of both deontological and teleological views will be necessary, and examples will be given for clarification. Deontological theory is the notion…