Kant Appropriate Action Analysis

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The Art of Appropriate Actions

Immanuel Kant is noted as one of the most influential German philosophers of his time. He is most recognized for his work on moral philosophy which was published during the late 1700’s. Although Kant’s work challenges many of our moral confidences, acquiring a better understanding of his proposed ethical doctrine will greatly enhance our ability to interpret its meaning. The challenges stem from Kant’s counter intuitive concept that a decision should be made without considering the consequences of the action and concede that conceptually human beings should not be treated as a means to an end, but rather the end in itself (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2004). Therefore, I agree with Kant’s thesis, …show more content…

The first theme is intentions over consequences and the second is to challenge the universalizability to meet the maxim. An example of the first theme, a good Samaritan works their entire life to solve world hunger but clearly fails. Kant would consider the intent morally acceptable despite the consequences (failure). An example of the second theme, a person goes into a bank and lies on their loan application to ensure they get the loan they need. If everyone told a lie on their loan applications, no one would ever trust a loan application; therefore loan applications would be ineffective. Based on that information, if you lie on a loan application the maxim is not universalizable and therefore considered immoral. These two examples clearly support Kant’s theories and serves as the basis on which my decision to agree was made.

Another Kant premise that challenges my philosophy of moral principles is his approach that a person must be free and willing of bias in order for their action to have meaning. This idea runs counter to how the world sometimes works. For example, the household in which you were raised are tried and true republicans. Are you a republican because of your beliefs or are you a republican because of the environment in which you were raised? So how would you vote come Election Day? It seems almost impossible to not be biased based on your environment, even if very minor

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