Maxim

What would you do if tomorrow never arrives? In the movie Groundhog Day, weatherman Phil Connors dealt with this question. He was forced to relive the same day over and over again, and he needed to decide on what to do with this repeating day. If there is no tomorrow, it is true that “we could do whatever we wanted” since “there would be no consequences”, as said by the two drunken men in the movie. However, we should also ask ourselves what aspects should we based our choices of actions on. In…

to do that action. In the case of good will, man recognizes that there is a need for universal law, and even if they do not want to participate in it, they recognize that it is the morally right thing to do. Categorical imperative: "Act as if the maxim from which you act were to become through your will a universal law.", in other words, man should only act if he should have personal principles that…

This rigid moral ethic entitled “deontological ethics” covers Immanuel Kant's moral theory centered on some autonomy’ concepts in which everyone has the ability to make choices according to one's own will. Kant’s philosophy on moral theory described the concept of having personal autonomy as the capacity to deliberate and give oneself the moral law, rather than merely heeding the injunctions of others. So, the capacity to decide for oneself pursued a course of action in one’s life, often…

Enemy or friend, once person is dead he/she loses the status, achievements, failures, death vanishes everything… And what we can do is to give person the least of respect and put body in the grave. This is the motive behind Antigone’s action. Her maxim, the universal law, and she’s acting in accordance with this law. However the outcome might be, punishment or death, she doesn’t care, because she knows she must do it no matter what. Thus, categorical imperative underlies in the core of…

One often wonders what is the meaning of life, what is the purpose of our existence, how should one live one’s life, what is the highest good in one’s life etc. When faced with such question one usually turns to philosophers, people who have dedicated their entire lives to answer questions such as these. Among all the philosophers out there personally I felt that Aristotle and Kant have had the greatest influence on society and most of their writing are still relevant in modern day society.…

knowing the cultural background of the people we speak with. These mistakes results from various cultural, social factors and different customs. Leech (1983) introduced the Politeness Principle: A. Tack Maxim; B. Generosity Maxim; C. Approbation Maxim; D. Modesty Maxim; E. Agreement Maxim; F. Sympathy Maxim. Politeness Principle proposes how to produce and understand language based on politeness. Although pragmatic failures often result only in funny anecdotes, sometimes it may cause…

In the United States, the legality of the death penalty was challenged in the landmark Supreme Court case of Furman v. Georgia in 1972. The Court declared that the death penalty in unconstitutional in, at least, certain applications because the punishment violates the Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Thurgood Marshall, who argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional in all instances, writes that there are six conceivable defenses given to justify…

Howard is a public nurse working with an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals who are responsible to distribute vaccines to a community of immigrants whose English language rates are low. An integral part of the procedure is to receive consent from each resident. The moral issue; however, is that the consent forms are in English and may not be adhering to the nursing competency of ethics and informed consent. As defined by the College of Nurses of Ontario (2013), informed consent…

categorical imperative, one must propose an action, for example, being honest. Next, the proposed action is put into a statement or maxim. The proposed action then develops into “I will always be honest”. From this, one imagines a world where this maxim is followed by everyone. If it is found that this maxim cannot be applied without making exceptions for a few, the maxim is not necessary in and of itself, and therefore immoral. To Kant, a world where everyone was always honest would not create…

misfortunes have crossed his path. This man believes that the only way to free himself and finally be happy is to commit suicide. In his mind, this is a symbol of self-love towards himself. This is where Kant explains his criteria by changing the maxim into a universal law. Kant comes to the conclusion…