Types of Moral imperative

Kant’s Groundworks of the Metaphysics of Morals and Mill’s Utilitarianism present morality from two vastly different perspectives. They both give us fundamental and universal theories pertaining to morality. Mill begins Utilitarianism by introducing the issue of the foundation of morality as one that has been discussed by philosophers for more than two thousand years (Mill 95). He then mentions that in areas like the sciences it is common to have some confusion and uncertainty. However, in the…

Her main thesis is that the types of actions and beliefs that would fall into those two categories, respectively, varies widely among various societies and cultures (Benedict 318). Basically she claims that there is no objective standpoint from which one can judge an individual’s values…

Kantian ethics. Kant believed that whether an action was right or wrong did not depend on the consequences, but on whether they fulfilled our duty as rational beings. Kant’s ethics are guided from the philosophical concept that is the Categorical Imperative, a wholly binding rule of morality that is justified as an end in itself. In the spelunker case, Kant would ultimately have the choice of killing the large man to save himself and the life of others, or have all of them perish. The fact that…

In “The Dilemma of Obedience” from his book Obedience to Authority, Stanley Milgram claims that people choose to become obedient to authority even if their actions are not constant with their own moral or significance. He begins by describing the importance of obedience and how it is so powerful that it can overthrow a person’s demeanor and their values on life. In order to understand the effects of authority on others, such as the ones on the Jews in Nazi Germany, Milgram constructs an…

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy “The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior,” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). We have learned throughout this class that ethics is a moral value that differs from person to person but what makes up ethics? Ethical theories are a huge part of ethics; however, many of the theories differ in more than one way. In this essay two theories will be focused…

The dichotomy produced by the American binary political system has provided for some interesting civil discourse. One of the more popular topics is of course the debate on how much people should care about protecting Earth 's environments. Current opinions on this matter exist in a continuum. The majority of those who believe that global warming is a real threat would say that it is a duty of Earth 's residents to work toward minimizing environmental degradation. The remainder, for nihilist…

you come forward. Would you turn yourself in? Jean Valjean was put in this exact position. There are three ethical perspectives in life that will be discussed, ethical egoism, utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Depending on a person’s ethics, each type of person would react much differently than another in the same scenario given above, and this will be further…

emphasizes on the principles behind actions rather than an action’s results. Kant famously brought Rationalism and Empiricism together; and thus is credited with the ‘Copernican Revolution in Philosophy’. Kant’s theory is an example of a deontological moral theory, derived from the word “deon” which means obligation or duty, which is a study of the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on rules. In this ethical theory there are two base questions which Kantians…

are concerned with fulfilling what one believes is their moral duty and whether or not it makes people happy. In short, deontologists hold that right actions are defined by duty. Once we know what it is that we are duty bound to do morally, then we can carry out this ‘natural’ right action regardless of the consequences. What matters, they argue, is that we do what is right what is right, and what is right is that which conforms to moral law. One of the leading exponents of this theory is…

In Aristotle 's ethics, Book 1: the theory of happiness, Aristotle claims that there are some aims in the nature of man that influences every movement of the mind and every activity of the body, consciously or unconsciously. A man is incessantly striving to attain a ‘good’ or purpose of existence. According to Aristotle, there is a point in the purposes of man where the gradation of good (lower goods becoming subordinate to higher ones) ceases. It is this very point in man’s life where the mind…