Kantian vs Utilitarianism

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The case that was presented, a doctor who took the organs without permission from a dying patient in order to save three people, is a very intriguing case. It really questions a person’s morals. Was the doctor right in taking the dying patients organs in order to save three people, which would be using the Utilitarianism view, or is the Kantian Deontology view right? I will argue that the Kantian Deontology view on morals is much better in this case. Kantian Deontology is a theory of ethics written by Immanuel Kant. He argues that to be acting in a morally correct way, one must be acting from duty. He also argues that it isn’t the outcomes of the action that makes the actions right or wrong, rather it is the reason that the person had carried out the action. These two arguments rely on the categorical imperative. The first is the Formula of Universal Law (FUL). Kant describes it as, “I ought never to act in such a way that I couldn’t also will that the maxim on which I act should be a universal law” (Kant). In another words, if you universalize a maxim (a principle of intention), i...

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