...Camillia Lamar Philosophy 303-03 Professor Jonathan Schonsheck Option 1 Step # 1: I, Camillia Lamar, a student at Le Moyne College, will attend a two hour tutoring session at the Academic Support Center in the Noreen Reale Falcon Library every Saturday and Sunday until the end of the semester in order to receive higher grades in my Religion and English classes. Step # 2: Circumstances: A college student experiencing some academic challenges. Aim: Receive higher grades in my classes. Mean: Attend tutoring sessions. Step # 3: Could I, Camillia, a student at experiencing academic challenges, will this maxim a universal law? Would I, Camillia, be content to live in a world where this maxim is a moral requirement, when I consider it in the perspective of a tutor? Yes I, Camillia, would be content to live in a world where this maxim is a moral requirement because in the perspective of a tutor, I would want to help others knowing that I have the ability to help. Would I, Camillia, be content to live in a world where this maxim is a moral requirement, when I consider it in the perspective of a professor? Yes I, Camillia, would be content to live in a world where this maxim is a moral requirement because in the perspective of a professor, I would want students to improve my skill. Would I, Camillia, be content to live in a world where this maxim is a moral requirement, when I consider it in the perspective of a parent? Yes I, Camillia, would be content to live in...
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...Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide “This is not about a matter of life versus death, but about the timing and manner of an inevitable death.” -Unknown. Active voluntary euthanasia is described as mercy killing at the patient’s request. Physician-assisted suicide is described as the killing of a person by the person’s own hand with the help of a physician (Lewis 264). Generally, the law forbids active euthanasia and the medical profession is officially opposed to it. In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is legal in only four states- Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont (Lewis 265). Death has become more difficult to define and the conventional notion of death seems to be inadequate. To overcome the traditional drawbacks of the traditional definition of death, alternative definitions have been suggested. According to the whole-brain definition of death, an individual is dead when all brain function permanently stops. The higher brain definition of death says that an individual is dead when higher brain functions—those that give rise to consciousness—permanently stop (Lewis 266-267). I believe when faced with certain undignified death, one should get to choose how they wish to die. For example: Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer and less than six months left to live, who wanted to die on her own terms wrote the following: “When my suffering becomes too great, I can say to all those I love, ‘I love you; come by...
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...Ethical issue: Is it ethical for the hotel to organize trips to the “Red Light” area for the purpose of boosting occupancy rates? According to Act Utilitarianism, The affected parties are: * Hotel Management (CEO – Jeronimo) * The Red Light package may boost the occupancy rate of the hotel, giving the hotel a significant source of revenue, which will ease the pressure from the shareholders. (Pleasure) * It may damage the hotel’s reputation since it is likely, that from this moment onwards, the hotel will somehow be associated with the Red Light in the minds of potential guests. (Pain) * It might affect the work ambience in the hotel, as some employees might not agree with the strategy implemented. This might even serve as a potential danger to the female staff.(Pain) * Guests * The Red Light package may provide some of the guests with a more convenient means to visit Red Light district who would like to engage in such activities. (Pleasure) * But this might lead to some guests contracting sexually transmitted diseases, should they not know how to protect themselves. (Pain) * But this might be a problem to the other guests who have no interest in such a service and could be doubted on their intentions to stay in such a hotel. Hence, loyal customers might avoid the hotel due to its new reputation. (Pain) * This is also not good for those guests who book as a family, especially those with young children. They may get...
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...Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, Germany in 1724, and it is he who is the namesake of Kantian Ethics. In his early years Kant was a scientist, but later he became more of a philosopher when in 1770 he published the revolutionary Critique of Pure Reason, it showed Kant’s belief that we could have both sure and certain knowledge, but this said more about the way we think than the world itself. His most famous work however was published by him in 1785, called the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, it also looked at the presuppositions we make. For example, he said if there is morality there must also be free will, given to us by God, and as a result of this there must also be an afterlife, for without it morality wouldn’t make any sense. Kantian Ethics are then Kant’s own ethical theories and observations. This theory is synthetic a priori according to Kant, and this means that the substantive rules can be applied prior to experience. The first key part of Kantian Ethics are Good Will and Duty, as in the search for an intrinsic good Kant came to believe that no outcome was itself inherently good, his reasoning, both pleasure and happiness can result out of the most evil and heinous of acts, murder or rape for example could potentially cause the person committing the acts to become the recipient of some form of pleasure. Furthermore, Kant would also go on to say that there are also no good character specific traits, intelligence he would give as an example, or perhaps...
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...Basic Strengths and Weaknesses of Kantian Ethics Main strengths of Kantian ethics: * Clarity - Kantian ethics is clear and easy to follow. Its absolutist, deontologicalnature is arguably the most easy to apply * this is good for environmental, business and sexual ethics. Any theory which is easy to apply is helpful/useful/reliable * Egalitarian - Kant states we should treat people as "an end in themselves" and so Kantian ethics puts everyone on equal ground * this is also good for all three, for obvious reasons * Consistent - the absolutist nature of the ethic means that what it says will never change - nobody is an exception * this is good for business - all customers are treated exactly the same and none are favoured * Honours respect and dignity Main weaknesses of Kantian ethics: * Maxim scope - anyone could universalise a maxim to allow anything, so long as it is universalisable * sexually, the maxim 'women should always be sexually passive' could be put forward, as could several others. Is this fair? * corrupt businesses could employ any maxim they wish to justify doing something which many of us may see as immoral * Inflexible - because of its absolutist nature, Kantian ethics offers no flexibility. Itdoesn't regard the situation of an action, which is arguably not helpful or useful in the modern world * this is a weakness for all three - environmental, sexual and business issues are all specific and...
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...yielded far greater emissions on the actual road. This whole situation can be split into two parts: the illegal programing of diesel engines, and the decision of Liang to plead guilty and tell the world of his mistakes. Upon examining the actions of the design team, an ethical analysis can be made with two different ethical theories. The first theory to consider is utilitarian theory, which takes into account consequences of all involved when deciding the morality of the decision. The second theory to relate to this case study is Kantian ethics, otherwise known as duty ethics. Kantian ethics focuses on whether moral decisions are made to fulfill our duty....
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...The educational series, The Examined Life, tells us about three theories that can be used in analyzing ethical dilemmas. Kantian theory will support Truman’s decision, as he seems to have good intentions as an American President, and those intentions are what is considered most important. If using a utilitarian approach, which looks purely at the consequences of a decision to determine if a decision is ethical, it can go either way. The consequences were disastrous in death tolls, however, both the United States and Japan rank among the top of the list in Human Development Index (Human Development Report 2014). The third theory of virtue ethics, would suggest that Truman’s decision was not ethical, as it undermines our values that we treasure, such as human compassion. These can all be applied and defended, but we must use a combination of them all to come to a proper...
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...Kantian Ethical Analysis Kantian ethics are perhaps one of the world most loved branch of ethical philosophy. It is to some extent the Eden lost of moral philosophy, for it argues that moral requirements are based on established standards of rationality, reason and dignity embedded in Categorical Imperative and whereas, immorality is somewhat a violation of moral philosophy and is not embedded in Categorical Imperative, which is self governing reason that each and every individual possess as a guiding factor in practical affairs, business decisions such as the failed merger of AT&T and TMobile merger. Reason, declared Kant, is the source and ultimate basis for morality (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). Meaning, morality is not based on the animalistic side of man, but, rather on a God given conscience weaved in the moral laws which are the opposite of intuition or utility. This moral law is binding on human beings, simply because they are rational (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013), however; what makes man rational? Does the rationality of man only apply to personal matter not business matter? Does that rationality prevent business controversies? Rationality is a most desirable quality of man, however; such rationality does not always apply to business matter. The merger of the second and fourth largest telecommunications companies, AT&T and T-Mobile is a prime example of how far man will go in order to ignore his God given conscience. However, the same man that is often...
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...Immanuel Kant was an eighteenth century German philosopher whose moral views continue to be influential. His ethical theory is based on a deontological point of view, where the act itself has moral value regardless of the consequences. Kant dismisses emotions such as pity and compassion as irrelevant to morality and thought that making a choice based on feelings or fulfilling our desires is irrelevant when making a morally correct decision. His beliefs oppose that of moral relativism, in which a morally good act is entirely dependant on the circumstances or culture in which it takes place, instead believing in the necessity of a perfectly universalisable moral law. A significant area of ethical study for Kant was the investigation into human reasoning. His views were in response to that of the empiricists and rationalists. The rationalists attempted to prove that we can understand the world purely be using our reasoning, on the other hand empiricists argued that all of our knowledge originates from experience. Although he thought that neither approach was entirely successful, his beliefs were more closely linked with those of the rationalists. He explained that we only have knowledge of the world as it appears to us through our senses, and that humans never know the true reality of the world as we experience it through our own minds, of which various categories of thought have been built into. Therefore our scientific knowledge is only of our own experiences and perceptions...
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...Based on the definition of social contract theory is “the view that persons’ moral or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement between them to form society.”All citizens who are living in the country should follow the rules of their government. By resource, biomechanics developed during the early 1970s(Molyneux 2010). Combined this technology, immortality maybe achieved and brings benefits for the whole society. However, the evidence from research has been proved that there is no obvious relevant law of immortality in Australia. Social contract is implicit, geographical and unilateral, which means that it should exist as a law rather than a formal agreement.If there is no law on immortality, there is no rule for people to obey. People could do whatever they want to make immortality come true. It might benefit the society, meanwhile, some immoral issues would also be engendered. From this point of view, social contract theory is not suitable for evaluating immortality. To evaluate whether an activity has moral worth is judged by motivation(Sandel 2010). First of all, it should be a good will. Basically, immortality makes human live longer in this world which is a good original intention, and it does not break any existing laws or principles in society. On the other side, biomechanics is a high technology which describes the application of engineering mechanics to biological and medical. This technic brings benefits on human medical treatment. Both of them...
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...Kantian Morals, Utilitarianism, and Basic Human Rights As we continue to study the origin of moral theory, we come across two very influential philosophers; Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. Both have very opposing ideologies concerning morality and basic human rights, but they have certainly contributed much to the way we work as a society today. In this paper, we will look at both theories more in depth. First we will look at Kant. According to Kantian Ethics, what gives an action it’s moral value is the agent’s respect for moral duty; In other words, the agent must be completely selfless in his action in order for it to be considered moral. Consequences do not matter, the “good will” of a person is the only thing with intrinsic value. A person must act out of only intention to do good; not for personal gain, but because they know it is the right thing to do.(Kant Slides). This theory is impartial to all, there are no exceptions. In order to establish whether an action is moral, the act must follow two categorical imperatives (universal commands): -Categorical Imperative I states: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become universal law...”(Kant, 414). In accordance with this imperative, you must first state your maxim (the rule which states your action) and decide whether or not the rule can become a universal law. If it can, in fact, be a universal law by which all of humanity abides, then it is a moral act. For...
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...Describe the strengths and weaknesses of utilitarian and Kantian ethics. Utilitarianism is a consequence based ethics perspective which makes decisions that promote the greatest overall amount of good consequences over bad consequences for the greatest number of people in the world. An ethical tradition that directs us to decide based on overall consequences of our act. It is a cost-benefit analysis that fits with business decision making and into people’s intuitive criteria for deciding moral problem. It provides an objective and attractive way of resolving conflicts of self-interest. When most people feel that justice is done, it is easier to implement and defend based on the “common good”. Utilitarianism makes policies for the benefit of the majority of workers, suppliers and customers; think through a number of “frames” before making a decision and therefore the quality of the decision making should be higher. However the nature of the consequences is biased as too much focus on ethical ends can lead to ignoring moral consideration of the means. Eg, if an organization needs satisfy the shareholders hence they retrench 20% randomly so that 80% of staff are kept. But is the financial outcomes the best? It is difficult to evaluate all consequences. For example, through the stakeholder analysis, the rights and interests of minority is ignored (eg, suppliers) or those who are affected in the future. It is unfair to those who lack representation...
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...Autonomy provides self-identification and placement in a person culture. Immanuel Kant believes that autonomy plays a big role in making ethical decisions. I believe that is correct and this is because morals vary from culture to culture and universalizability does not exist. Morals are supposed to bring good but there are circumstances where a moral action might bring damage. Due to this premise I feel as though it is not always right to do the duty that is expected. I also believe that if a duty is imposed on us, the fulfillment of that duty will not make us any more ethical. To explain my universalizability statement, Immanuel Kant believes that acting immorally is unreasonable because it is inconsistently unfair and unjust towards whomever it may have a negative impact on, even though that person may not know. According to Kant, an action is morally right if its maxim is universalizable. In which a maxim is a “principle of action you give yourself when you are about to do something” (162), and universalizable means that your acts of your maxim would be supported by everyone. According to Russ Shafer-Landau in The Fundamentals of Ethics, Kant believes that, “the morality of our actions has nothing to do with results. It has everything to do with our intentions and reasons for action, those are contained in the principle we live by” (163). Morality relies on people acting out with a good intention, but the action has to be universalizable, and if it is not, we are being inconsistent...
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...Terrance Bennett Professor Kordas Business ethics June 20, 2015 Long Essay When comparing normative moral philosophies Utilitarian and Kantian ethics provide prospective on controversial policies such as mandatory arbitration and caps on damages. Utilitarian and Kantian philosophies both have their own unique principals that guide them on making ethical decisions. Cap on damages and mandatory arbitration have many aspects that can be looked at from moral philosophes to be deemed ethical or unethical. When a person is harmed by the negligence or transgression of a company, that person enacts a lawsuit in order to be compensated for damages inflicted to them. If a company is found guilty of doing harm to an individual by the court of law a system comes into play called caps on damages. A limit or ceiling is set in place as to how much an individual can be compensated for regardless of evidence or nominal harm done. Caps only appear if a lawsuit is of great enough value to reach whatever limit is set. Caps restrict the power of judges and juries to make decisions on the amount of compensation an individual can receive and puts the power into the hands of conglomerates and politicians. “Utilitarian holds that the maximization of happiness ultimately determines what is just and unjust” (Shaw 87). In the eyes of utilitarian caps on damages would be considered unethical because it is unjust to harm someone and not compensate them fully. A doctor preforms an amputation on an...
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...Journal of Applied Philosophy,Suicide Intervention and Non-Ideal Kantian Theory Vol. 19, No. 3, 2002 245 Suicide Intervention and Non-Ideal Kantian Theory MICHAEL J. CHOLBI Philosophical discussions of the morality of suicide have tended to focus on its justifiability from an agent’s point of view rather than on the justifiability of attempts by others to intervene so as to prevent it. This paper addresses questions of suicide intervention within a broadly Kantian perspective. In such a perspective, a chief task is to determine the motives underlying most suicidal behaviour. Kant wrongly characterizes this motive as one of self-love or the pursuit of happiness. Psychiatric and scientific evidence suggests that suicide is instead motivated by a nihilistic disenchantment with the possibility of happiness which, at its apex, results in the loss of the individual’s conception of her practical identity. Because of this, methods of intervention that appeal to agents’ happiness, while morally benign, will prove ineffective in forestalling suicide. At the same time, more aggressive methods violate the Kantian concern for autonomy. This apparent dilemma can be resolved by seeing suicide intervention as an action undertaken in non-ideal circumstances, where otherwise unjustified manipulation, coercion, or paternalism are morally permitted. 1. The chances are good that each of us will some day confront a person close to us contemplating suicide. Every year...
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