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To judge one’s moral worth for his or her actions is a very important task. In the play, Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, the main character, Dr. Stockmann performs in what many would consider a good, but moral worth is not determined by someone making a 10 second analysis of the actions and determining it. In order to determine moral worth, one can use Immanuel Kant’s book, Grounding for a Metaphysics of Morals. Within this book, Kant describes how one’s actions can be determined for the purpose of moral worth. Kant goes into detail and uses the cognitive imperative and other ways to determine moral worth.
In the play, An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen the people are in danger of becoming sick from a contamination at the baths. The baths are a body of water that is a natural spring that has healing properties to it for those who are crippled or have some sort of illness. Because of this, it is the main attraction in the town and the majority of the income is from the baths. The main characters of the play, Dr. Stockmann and his brother and mayor of the town, Peter Stockma...
Kant, Immanuel, and Mary J. Gregor. The Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.
When studying atrocities such as the Holocaust, the concept of morality is often questioned. However, as the medieval morality play illustrates, there are those that will decide, during these times, to make a free and conscious decision to do the right thing instead of following the temptation to commit a wrongdoing. The plays that have been read thus far in the semester have supported this assertion.
Not only does he describe what they are, but he goes into great detail of why they have these views. He analyzes propaganda, Shakespearean literature, and even theater. He doesn't just explain that they don't bathe often, but why they didn't bathe often (it's because they thought water carried pathogens and they would get water in their “crevices” and get sick).
In Henrik Ibsen’s, An Enemy of the People, Ibsen presents the reader with a town on the brink of disaster. The tragic reality is that there is a cesspool underneath the spa, the town’s main economic asset and tourist attraction. Not only is the cesspool a danger to the economic health of the town, but it is also a danger to the health of the town’s citizens. The disaster the city faces is caused by the citizen’s unwillingness and inability of the city leaders to deal with the tragedy of the cesspool.
In his book, the “Moral Sense,” James Q. Wilson defines the Moral Sense as a sense of being connected to others. Wilson explains how people from different cultures and societies all have a similar set of basic principles, which they follow. The author brings up the example of fairness in his 3rd chapter. Within the chapter, Wilson explains how everyone, has their own perception of fairness from a very young age even though we come from different cultures and societies. He justifies his idea by bringing to light the simple, basic, but also very natural statement all children make when they are young “That’s not fair.” This is seen throughout all cultures because everyone has a basic idea of what fairness is within them. To Wilson, we have this sense of fairness because we are all humans who are based on evolution and culture, and as a result we all have these commonalities. However even though everyone has a basic consensus of fairness, there is no single universally accepted definition for
Immanuel Kant is a popular modern day philosopher. He was a modest and humble man of his time. He never left his hometown, never married and never strayed from his schedule. Kant may come off as boring, while he was an introvert but he had a great amount to offer. His thoughts and concepts from the 1700s are still observed today. His most recognized work is from the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Here Kant expresses his idea of ‘The Good Will’ and the ‘Categorical Imperative’.
An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen, is the story of a man named Dr. Thomas Stockman, who becomes a deviant to society. After discovering that the waters in the town’s baths are polluted, Dr. Stockman tries to spread the news and have the baths shut down. He assumes that the townspeople will be happy to hear his news, since the water is what has been making everyone sick. However, many people in the town aren’t very happy to hear such news, and before Dr, Stockman realizes it, the entire town has turned against him. Stockman criticizes the townspeople for this, and even refers to them as “street curs.” What made the town turn against him? Did they honestly all disagree with the doctor’s opinion? Did they fall to group pressure? Or, was it his brother the mayor’s influence?
Though he was foremost a scientist, he also played several rolls which were linked to public health. He aided in disease control and prevention as well as presenting many measures to fight the Cholera epidemic the town faced (Norton, Collenton, Yari, Watts, Fonlupt & Curran, 2006). From the first moments he arrives in the village, he is looking for ways the Cholera has been spread. He suspects the water supply and then tests it. Upon finding out that it was contaminated, he immediately closes the well and urges that people stop drinking and bathing with the water. When he finds out that the location is for burial of Cholera victims is dangerously close to the river, Walter pleads with residents to move the bodies and stop burying them there. Due to the spiritual reasons the villagers are reluctant. Having to prevent the town from using the contaminated water, Walter develops the aqueduct system as an alternative, so that the town has drinking and bathing water which is not containing the cholera bacteria. The film showed a great deal of epidemiology and traced the prevention of epidemics spread from finding the source of transmission to putting in place rules to stop the contraction of the disease. Additionally, it showed how by bringing in clean water, the spread of the disease could be greatly prevented (Norton et al, & Curran, 2006).
I recognized that our playwright’s wanted the characters to emulate their values and outlooks they believed in. We learned that social forces like dishonesty, corporate control, and environmental concerns all played a part in the play Urinetown. As a result of the unfair rate hikes and water taxes the Amenities were forced to revolt. The dark community eventually overthrew the powers that be and started fresh with no restrictions. For a time the people lived happily, but an overuse of resources would be their fate soon enough. They were always doomed.
Kant’s moral philosophy is built around the formal principles of ethics rather than substantive human goods. He begins by outlining the principles of reasoning that can be equally expected of all rational persons regardless of their individual desires or partial interests. It creates an ideal universal community of rational individuals who can collectively agree on the moral principles for guiding equality and autonomy. This is what forms the basis for contemporary human rig...
Through his discussion of morals in the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant explores the question of whether a human being is capable of acting solely out of pure duty and if our actions hold true moral value. In passage 407, page 19, Kant proposes that if one were to look at past experiences, one cannot be certain that his or her rationalization for performing an action that conforms with duty could rest solely on moral grounds. In order to fully explain the core principle of moral theory, Kant distinguishes between key notions such as a priori and a posteriori, and hypothetical imperative vs. categorical imperative, in order to argue whether the actions of rational beings are actually moral or if they are only moral because of one’s hidden inclinations.
The Mayor in the play had to ignore the truth because of money. Money played a big role in which motivated the Mayor to ignore the situation of the Baths and also ending up in a conflict with Doctor Stockmann. Since the town gained it major income from the Baths, the Mayor didn’t want to expose the public of the truth. When he says, “Oh, the public has no need for new ideas. The public gets on best with the good old recognized ideas it already has” (Ibsen, 94), he’s being very greedy and saying that it’s better to hide the truth because the people will get mad and try to fix the problem. However, fixing the problem costs a lot of money and the Mayor’s extremely concerned with money and reputation. He didn’t want to put time and money in fixing the pipe in the Baths so he just chose to hide the truth and threaten the public with the increase of tax. Therefore, since the Mayor’s position is a leading, responsible one, he buries the truth in order to protect the success of the Baths.
In Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant argues that human beings inherently have capability to make purely rational decisions that are not based on inclinations and such rational decisions prevent people from interfering with freedom of another. Kant’s view of inherent ability to reason brings different perspective to ways which human beings can pursue morality thus it requires a close analytical examination.
Ethics can be defined as "the conscious reflection on our moral beliefs with the aim of improving, extending or refining those beliefs in some way." (Dodds, Lecture 2) Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the ethical nature of human beings. This paper will attempt to explain how and why Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism differ as well as discuss why I believe Kant's theory provides a more plausible account of ethics.
Kant, Immanuel, and James W. Ellington. Grounding for the metaphysics of morals ; with On a supposed right to lie because of philanthropic concerns. Third ed. : , . Print.