Kantian Ethics

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An overall goal of ethics is determining the morality of the human kind and judging their actions as good or bad. One of the many strategies of this goal is called deontological ethics founded by Immanuel Kant. Kant focused on an individual’s motives and judged them on the fundamentals of good will, duty, and universality. He believed that if an action does not have these structural foundations, then the actions are unworthy to claim good moral. Kant also created formulations in order to help decide whether if an action of duty is considerable for judgment. Kant’s emphasis on the motive of an action has many pros in comparison to the utilitarianism strategy of judging on the amount of happiness created. There are many flaws in considering the consequence of an action, while there are no flaws when considering the purity of good will in a person’s motive. Kant’s deontological theory of judging actions by an individual’s motives is the most fair and accurate evaluation of good moral.
Immanuel Kant developed a moral theory on the sole perspective of a person’s motive or intent of their action. Kant does not believe that the consequences and outcomes of a person’s action define how morally right it is. He focuses only on the reasoning and puts these intentions into a duty and good will definition. The studying and emphasis on morality being based on duty is why we call Kant’s theory deontological. When a person does an action out of duty, it is because the duty is something a person is ought to do, deeming the action to be morally worthy. This goes the same for the intention of good will. When a person does an action out of good will, it is because the action is simply the right thing to do or good thing to do (85). Kant goes to the ...

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...ple given where the complimented individual controls the fate of the situation by reacting offended. This uncontrollable factor can even be explained in a better example that a human cannot control Mother Nature. If a doctor is trying to save a woman who is in the deadly stages of cancer, the doctor’s action of trying to save her life should not be determined as morally wrong or unworthy because Mother Nature’s course and science caused the woman to pass. When judging an individual’s moral, it is not fair to burden their actions by the consequences created by a third party that they cannot control. This is why Kant’s theory of judging one individual’s motive influencing one individual’s action is the more fair approach compared to utilitarian beliefs.

Works Cited

MacKinnon, Barbara. Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1995. Print.

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