Kant And Aristotle's Argumentative Analysis

Throughout the past several centuries, philosophers have actively discussed and debated what determined the morality of certain actions. Normative ethics, a branch of ethical philosophy, concentrates on the rules, norms, and principles that determine whether or not actions are morally correct. One of the main approaches to normative ethics is known as value ethics, which emphasizes an individual’s values and how these values influence virtues and happiness. Kant and Aristotle take different positions and create theories determining what makes an action virtuous and moral, aiming to help people have a deeper understanding of the concepts behind personal and moral development.

One of Aristotle’s main arguments is that humans naturally desire

Actions should be performed regardless of your own happiness. Kant and his approach to moral ethics is heavily based on the idea that an individual should act how they believe everyone should act. This concept is most famously known as the Categorical Imperative. Kant, referring to the Categorical Imperative, states that “it concerns not the matter of the action, or its intended result, but its form and the principle of which it is itself a result” (Mulvaney 138). According to this quotation, the results from your action are not important and insignificant to your action alone. An action is either right or it is either wrong, and nothing should be an exception to these rules. Kant disagreed with Aristotle because he believes that if an individual makes themselves an exception, they are denying the universal law based off their own desires and interests. If a person does not want to do something, but still does it, this is where we have a sense of duty in our lives. Therefore, as a main point, Kant argues that doing the right, moral thing regardless of the results will eventually lead into

In other words, the mean is the perfect balance between what is too excessive or too deficient. For instance, courage is the perfect balance between recklessness and cowardice. If everybody follows this concept, then everybody will have balanced emotions. If we have our emotions balanced, then we are likely to prevent any unnecessary situations from happening, which promotes our overall happiness. However, Aristotle admits that achieving a mean is complicated because humans will naturally be more inclined to go to one extreme. The easiest way to “hit the mean” is to “incline at one time towards the excess and at another towards the deficiency” (Mulvaney 125). To elaborate, if somebody wants to go from one extreme to another, they have to inevitably meet the mean at some point. As a result, we have to aim to find balance between two extremes if we want to be fully satisfied and happy with our