...Immanuel Kant A Famous Philosopher 10/21/2012 Kelley Huttar Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804): Immanuel Kant was a modern day German deontologist from Prussia and became one of history’s most famous Philosophers. A deontologist is someone who believes in acts that are strictly right or wrong. Kant was an influential thinker and one of the last philosophers of the Enlightenment era. However his work in epistemology (the study of knowledge) and theology (the study of religion) are still influential to current philosophers of our time. He was also known for his beliefs in ethics and his knowledge in astronomy. Kant was an independent person, meaning he did not let others influence his way of thought. He created his own moral values and acted alone in his findings and did not look for outside criticism. He believed that other people’s emotions and view towards a subject could impact one’s moral values and behavior. He was admired by his friends for this quality, and because of this he became famous for the concept known as the categorical imperative (Evers). Theory Developed and Its Example: Categorical Imperative: Kant developed a theory on morality that is known as the categorical imperative. This theory implies that one should only act on his or her own morals. Kant believed a person has a duty to be moral in every sense as he believed this was a moral requirement. He also believed that an action one takes must be moral enough for the entire universe to agree...
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...Immanuel Kant was generally regarded as the last major philosopher of the early modern period and one of history's most influential thinkers. His ethical theories were presented in two works. The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) was Kant's "search for and establishment of the supreme principle of morality." In The Critique of Practical Reason (1787) Kant attempted to unify his account of practical reason with his work in theCritique of Pure Reason. Kant was the major proponent in history of what is called deontological ethics. Deontology is the study of duty. On Kant's view, the sole feature that gives an action moral worth is not the outcome that is achieved by the action, but the motive that is behind the action. The Categorical Imperative was the name of Kant’s moral law and the famous statement of this duty: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (McCormick, 2006). Kant’s notion on moral judgment i.e. the ability to personally determine the motive behind and outcome of one’s action, made freedom play a significant role in much of his ethical theories. According to Kant what makes human beings different from inanimate things and other lower level living beings is that people have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will do with their lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to respect other people’s choices as well. It is a violation of human dignity...
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...John Stuart Mill vs. Immanuel Kant The aim of this paper is to clearly depict how John Stuart Mill’s belief to do good for all is more appropriate for our society than Immanuel Kant’s principle that it is better to do what's morally just. I will explain why Mill’s theory served as a better guide to moral behavior and differentiate between the rights and responsibilities of human beings to themselves and society. Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are philosophers who addressed the issues of morality in terms of how moral customs are formed. Immanuel Kant presented one perspective in The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals that is founded on his belief that the worth of man is inherent in his skill to reason. John Stuart Mill holds another belief as presented in the book, Utilitarianism, which is seemingly conflicting with the thoughts of Kant. What is most unique about the ethics of morality is the idea of responsibilities to particular individuals. According to both Mill and Kant, moral obligations are not fundamentally particularistic because they are rooted in universal moral principles. Both philosophers have made great impacts in their niche areas in the field. An analysis of their theories may help develop a better understanding of them and their theories. Mill holds an empiricist theory while Kant holds a rationalist theory. Kant explains morality through forms that he believes are essential to free and sensible judgment. Mill’s utilitarian approach...
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...The founders’ family (Riga’s family) cooperated with the company’s executives to consume the funds in their personal needs. Additionally, they also lied to their investors that the company was growing at a very high rate misleading them. The extent to which the company was looted and an ostentatious amount of money and time stolen from investors by Riga’s and their coconspirators made this scandal the most unbelievable case ever seen in SEC. Moreover, business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical and moral principles or ethical problems that arise in business organizations. It is relevant to the conduct of entire organizations and individuals and smears to all aspects of business ethics. The scandal surrounding Adelphia Corporation and the founder’s family is riddled with what one would consider ethical problems. In the scandal, there were instances of countless violations of what is referred universally as business ethics. However, these violations can directly be tied to the common two norms of ethics which clearly state: Do not steal and do not lie. From the reported allegations, it's agreed that every criminal and civil act embarked by both the corporation and the family...
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...Introduction: Organizations are all comprised of what makes them who they are; the people. People are all comprised of different make-ups and people are what make businesses what they are which brings me to the point of this discussion; Unethical behavior within organizations. Unethical behavior within organizations has been occurring for centuries and it is what led to their ultimate demise. Unethical behavior is the beginning of the end in some companies and in some of those it results in the ruin of what started out to be a good thing. Some of these companies started out as small prosperous businesses that later grew into large dominate organizations for example; Enron, and of course WorldCom. These businesses began with good intentions and ended up internally combusting. All of it was due to the result of GREED. Greed is a disease, and has plagued several organizational leaders over time and caused them to go against their good ethics and morals. There are many opinions as to why people commit the acts that they do but the bottom line is that money will sometimes bring out the evil in the best of people and Leaders of Corporate America are not immune. Background: The beginning phases of WorldCom began in 1983 with a plan to create a long distance telephone carrier service named (Long Distance Discount Service) Mr. Ebbers was one of the major investor’s and later became the CEO. Like most businesses this one was no different and grew over the years...
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...have no allegiance to a particular company and must sign an agreement to that affect. The question at hand is can one of the directors call their personal potential clients and state, “I am calling as a director of the Energy Cooperative.” Should we allow the directors state such a thing when calling their clients? Does this affect the Energy Cooperative? What is the best solution? We are going to look over the 5 theories to see if this would be ethical or unethical. We are going to look at the ethical issues that would allow or prevent the Energy Cooperative from doing so. First I will examine John Locke’s Theory of Rights. John Locke’s Theory of Rights tells us the individuals have the right to make choices without government interferences. He also recognized the importance of natural rights that all persons have. In his view these rights were God-given and were present at the birth of each individual. He felt that human beings were born with certain divine rights, the right to live, the right to liberty, the right to property, etc. Would allowing this be...
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...Adephia Scandal 1 Abstract The purpose of the paper is to explain deontological ethics, including Kant's Categorical Imperative, and their relationship to business ethics. I will explain how deontological ethics and Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative more specifically relate to the two primary business ethics violations in the Adephia scandal. ADELPHIA SCANDAL The Adephia Scandal orchstrated by a family of Business men that had on goal in mind, which was tor created family wealth at all cost. The Rigas Family Members of Adelphia’s included John Rigas, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Timothy Rigas, John’s son, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Accounting Officer, and Treasurer; Michael Rigas, John’s son, Executive Vice President for Operations and Secretary; and James Rigas, John’s son, Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning. On December 31, 1999, five of the ten members of Adelphia’s board of directors were Rigas family members, John, his three sons, and Peter Venetis, John’s son-in-law. In 2002, John J. Rigas resigned as Adelphia’s CEO, Timothy J. Rigas resigned as CFO, and the Rigas family relinquished control of the company as John, Timothy, Michael, and James Rigas resigned as directors. John Rigas and sons Timothy and Michael were arrested on conspiracy charges. The company was founded in 1952 in Coudersport, Pennsylvania and incorporated in 1972. By 1998...
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...of this assignment is to provide a critical analysis of the 2002 collapse of Adelphia Communications as seen through the lens of Immanuel Kant deontological ethics. This analysis will be accomplished by providing a brief time lime of the Adelphia, identifying and discussing two key ethical problems raised and describing what is meant by deontological ethics. More specifically this paper will show how Kant’s Categorical Imperative (CI) applies to this scenario. The latter discussion will apply the deontological framework of business ethics to the two key ethical problems by constructing CI to the Adelphia scenario. The supporting material for this discussion can be found at Harvard University’s 2011 lecture: Justice, What’s the right thing to do? as presented by Professor Michael Sandel8. To examine the elements of the case, we will inspect the unethical behavior of five key figures culpable in the “rise and fall of the small town saga of epic dimensions8”. John J. Rigas (Founder), his two sons; Timothy J. Riga’s (CFO), Michael J. Riga’s (VP of Operations), James R. Brown (VP of Finance) and Michael C. Mulcahey (Director of Internal Reporting). By reading the case study we will see how the actions of each of these key actors had a direct impact on the company and through the course of this paper we will see how each is implicated in the ethical study of the scenario5. Adelphia Communications Timeline Despite the actions of its executives, Adelphia Communications propelled...
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...world. Through education, we achieve a personal sensation of achievement and sole satisfaction. However, what lessons do we draw from the classes and lessons that we attend? In addition, are there ways in which we can apply the knowledge and the information we learn from the class and use it to shape our personal and professional lives? Throughout the eight weeks that I have enrolled in philosophy 415, I have pondered how I will use the information I learn and the knowledge I gain to better myself. In this regard, I need to better myself in both my personal and professional capacities. Nevertheless, in order to attain this betterment, I need to come up with a moral program for my personal and professional lives. Whether it is applying the ethical principles of Aristotle, Kant and Mill, or combating moral illiteracy within my department, I plan to use my newfound information to its greatest potential. Therefore, this article first elucidates on the moral program that I would implement in my professional life as a nurse. Consequently, the second part is on a program fitted for my personal life as a single mother to a four-year-old child. Out of all the philosophers that we studied during the course, Aristotle's virtue ethics is the most suitable theory for my profession. According to Solomon (1992), Aristotle believed that “virtuous acts required conscious choice and moral purpose or motivation” (Solomon, 1992, p. 321). In this regard, this is the most crucial aspect that I must...
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...of this assignment is to provide a critical analysis of the 2002 collapse of Adelphia Communications as seen through the lens of Immanuel Kant deontological ethics. This analysis will be accomplished by providing a brief time lime of the Adelphia, identifying and discussing two key ethical problems raised and describing what is meant by deontological ethics. More specifically this paper will show how Kant’s Categorical Imperative (CI) applies to this scenario. The latter discussion will apply the deontological framework of business ethics to the two key ethical problems by constructing CI to the Adelphia scenario. The supporting material for this discussion can be found at Harvard University’s 2011 lecture: Justice, What’s the right thing to do? as presented by Professor Michael Sandel8. To examine the elements of the case, we will inspect the unethical behavior of five key figures culpable in the “rise and fall of the small town saga of epic dimensions8”. John J. Rigas (Founder), his two sons; Timothy J. Riga’s (CFO), Michael J. Riga’s (VP of Operations), James R. Brown (VP of Finance) and Michael C. Mulcahey (Director of Internal Reporting). By reading the case study we will see how the actions of each of these key actors had a direct impact on the company and through the course of this paper we will see how each is implicated in the ethical study of the scenario5. Adelphia Communications Timeline Despite the actions of its executives, Adelphia Communications propelled...
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...Leadership and Ethical decision making Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission First of all this is an assignment what is very interesting again. As a foreigner this was a totally new topic for me. While reading and researching everything I learned about a lot of new stuff. I had to research everything since some of this stuff I never heard of or if I heard about them it was in another language. First I am going to start off my paper with telling the back ground behind Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), is a U.S. constitutional law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. The United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations. In the case, the conservative lobbying group Citizens United wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts in apparent violation of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (commonly known as the McCain–Feingold Act or "BCRA"). Section 203 of BCRA defined an "electioneering communication" as a broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that mentioned a candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30...
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...sequencing of readings starting with Ethics, then to Sustainability and ending with CSR provides a good foundation to the business practices of CSR. Without the foundational understanding of Ethics normative theories and Sustainability phenomenon and issues, and the concepts of socialism, capitalism, corporate citizenship, the readings and eventual learning about the subject of CSR would be more superficial and spiritless. The 4 key normative ethical theories of Egoism, Utilitarianism, Kant’s, Rights have very different moral reasoning in judging what is right or wrong, good or bad. Egoism is very individualistic and consequentialist. Utilitarianism is also consequentialist but based upon the aggregated greatest number of well beings. The opposite of these two are non-consequentialist, one theory is based on the motives – Kant’s categorical imperative and second theory is based on Rights, human rights and natural rights. Each ethical theory has its valid points and justification. In real life practice, we may tend to adopt or skew towards some ethical theory more than others depending on our conviction at that moment, much influenced by life experience, parental influence, culture, religion, country and circumstances then. Sustainability is related to the environment as many resources are irreversible and finite in quantity. In an...
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...QUEEN OF APOSTLES PHILOSOPHY CENTRE JINJA (PCJ) CRITIQUE OF THE NOTION OF AUTONOMY IN KANT’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY AN UNDER GRADUATE DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF ETHICS AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES OF UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY (UMU) NKOZI, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY BISIMWA MUNYALI EVARISTE MARCH 2011 1 DEDICACE This work is dedicated in a special way to: My ever loving and caring God, My family and the community of the Missionaries of Africa. 2 DECLARATION I………………………………………………………..have read the rules of Uganda Martyrs University on plagiarism and hereby state that this work is my own. It has not been submitted anywhere else for any qualification. I have acknowledged the secondary sources used in this work. NAME OF STUDENT…………………………………………………………. SIGNATURE…………………………………………………………………… DATE: …………………………………………………………………………… SUPERVISOR………………………………………………………………….. SIGNATURE…………………………………………………………………… DATE: ………………………………………………………………………….. 3 ABSTRACT The importance of a philosophical study dealing with moral issues, especially the principle of autonomy is indisputably great. It is a common agreement that morality is located within the scope of duty. Kant corroborates this held agreement by stating the categorical imperative which every human is obliged to act upon. He conceived this categorical imperative as the moral law which all those who claim to be moral beings have to live on. However, he also affirmed...
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...Ethical Theories In today’s society, especially in business the question of what is ethical is a dilemma that a great deal of individuals is faced with every day. Ethics vary from person to person and culture to culture. What is unethical in the United States of America may be completely ethical in China. Dictionary.com defines ethics as the moral principles that govern a person’s or a group’s behavior. There are many different theories of ethics, and which one a person chooses to live by, depends on which theorist the individual believes to be more in line with their own personal moral beliefs. When business ethics is discussed it is hard to speak about it without mentioning the name of Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman was an economist that theorized business ethics as monetarism. He is essentially responsible for promoting the economic growth of a company and the benefits to their shareholders. The primary goal and motivating force in business is to make a profit, and try to maintain efficiency while making a profit. Friedman’s theory is in correlation with the philosophy of corporate law. In corporate law the shareholders own the company, and they vote on the Board of Directors. The greatest duty is owed to the shareholders as owners of the business. Typically the Board of Directors makes the important decisions because they ensure the company is running efficiency while making a profit at the same time. Making a profit is the primary reason any company is in business...
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...Essay on Code of Ethics In nursing there is so much emphasis placed on ethics. The reason being is that ethics is a vital part deeply rooted within the field. This paper will look at certain ethical codes in nursing. For example, beginning with a historical overview of the evolution of nursing ethics, and followed by a discussion of the moral principles important to nursing. Next, the paper will look at the outcomes of critical thinking on nursing ethics, and the importance of moral improvement in nurses will be discussed. The following paragraph will discuss the historical introduction of ethics in nursing. The Nursing Code of Ethics began in 1893 with the "Nightingale Pledge" which was patterned after the Hippocratic Oath in medicine, and is understood as the first code of nursing ethics (ANA, 2005). Even though the “Nightingale Pledge is hardly used or enforced by many institution today, much of the same messages or meanings is still practiced today. For, instance in the pledge itself states that “I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug” (Edelstein 1943). I have come to find that this statement means that the nurse giving care should always take precaution when giving medication. A Nurse should deliver optimal care to all patients. Mistakes are made when nurses leave out what is very important. Later on the Nurses' Associated Alumnae of the United States of America and Canada...
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