Essays on Kant

The motto of enlightenment is “Have courage to use your own reason.” Philosopher Immanuel Kant described enlightenment as a path that all of us have access to, but few of us take advantage of. It is defined as “a man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage” (Kant, 1). That is, enlightenment is self-incurred because most of society adopts the dominant feelings of the popular majority. However, Kant presents it is difficult for individuals to reach a level of such enlightenment because they lack the courage to do so. It takes courage to stand out on one’s own faith, ...

Business goals are primarily geared towards attaining financial gains. Other factors weigh heavily in ensuring the success of a business undertaking such as the organizational capability, management competency and market improvement strategies. Beyond these success factors, however, one aspect of running a business that is crucial in determining the performance of the business in the long term is business ethics or the application of moral theories in making business decisions. Business ethics refer to the adoption of proper business policies and practices concerning potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary ...

Introduction

Society has been distinguishing the concepts of good and evil since the ancient times. So, we can say that it had a specific morality - the system of moral relations, feelings, and consciousness. The morality is the central question of ethics, and still relevant to our society. Among the ethical systems I have learned, there are virtue ethics, utilitarianism, social contract, deontology with goals (Hinduism and Buddhism), deontology with divine authority (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), relativism (individual and cultural), and deontology with a categorical imperative (Kant). So, I would like to say a few words about each of them.

Ethical Systems

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Kantian approach to ethics is unique in that it provides both a method to apply in creating moral rules and guidelines and a clear justification to evaluate the moral value of specific actions. The theory seeks to provide a clear approach to the formation of morality and the moral legitimacy of particular actions. As such, Kant argued that morality must be based on reason and that the behavior that is most ethical will be automatically the most rational one. The greatest strength of the Kantian approach is in its consistently. The theory’s morality is absolute and based on ...

Among different theories that were implemented in XIX-XXs century the concept of utilitarianism and deontology are still the matter to discuss. Although firstly the suppositions of utilitarianism appear in the writings of the British moralists of XVI-XVII centuries, the modern theory of the concept is most often associated with the British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806- 1873) who elaborated the theory from a hedonistic version proposed by his mentor Jeremy Bentham (1748- 1832) who thought a person should experience a lot of pleasure and avoid suffering. As most clearly stated by Mill, the basic principle of utilitarianism is that ...

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Protecting animal rights is one of the major advocacies in contemporary society and such fervor can be attributed to animal rights advocates with the likes of Tom Regan. In his article ‘The Case for Animal Rights,’ Regan took an absolutism stand in support animal rights and established the theoretical framework of absolutism or Kantianism as the most plausible moral and ethical foundation why humans should protect animal rights at all cost. Regan approached his topic by examining ethical theories that serves as the common basis of human morality. According to Regan, it is fundamentally wrong for humans ...

INTRODUCTION

Every society develops, struggles to find and seeks solutions that will be best for society. What are the best laws, political style and what should be considered right and wrong and good or bad. Science says that for every action there is a reaction. Essentially, this means that there are consequences for all actions and choices, which calls for great consideration in regards to those acts being right or wrong, good or evil and or even worthwhile. Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted means by which attain these social goals that need to be achieved. One area of ethical ...

In the late 1700s, Immanuel Kant had his first attempt to investigate the ground from which human knowledge established certain limits by investigating the structures of the human mind. In Kant’s (1781) Critique of Pure Reason, he argued that knowledge does not just come from experience but also from impressions created from the faculty of knowledge or a priori, which is independent of all experience. Meanwhile, Kant’s theory of perception insists “imagination is a necessary ingredient of perception itself” (Kant, 1965, p.120). It appears therefore, that impressions tend to produce images through the receptive sensible capacities of ...

Introduction

Ethics and morality are extremely essential in every business. This is foremost objective to build businesses upon well-established business ethics and principles. However, it has been well noted that businesses in the contemporary global economy face some central ethical challenges (Jones, Parker, and Bos, 2005). To understand the nature of the ethical challenges faced by businesses and how to deal with them, it is imperative to understand the meanings and significance of some ethical and moral concepts. Morality is the set of established norms and values that are considered and portrayed as good and right within a given socio-cultural ...

Introduction

The incident involved the crash of a sightseeing helicopter high up in the crevasse of the Rocky Mountains. The pilot of the ill-fated plane was described as experienced, with over four thousand hours of flight. At the moment of the incident, it was reported to be worryingly overcast, not forgetting rainfall. According to the quality assurance manager of the helicopter’s owners, a tourism firm, the chopper crashed just moments after taking flight from the glaciers at an altitude of 2500 meters, specifically at a chosen spot referred as The Chancellor. There were six passengers on board, all tourists, ...

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Q1: Gansman lied to his employers on the insider information he gave Murdoch (Steiner and Steiner 264). Murdoch lied to her husband on the extramarital affair and later on to the FBI (264,266). Brodsky lied about his trading on insider information (266). Murdoch and Brodsky used the lie for money; Gansman for egoistic interest without justifying it publicly (264). Those harmed were primarily the stocks and options investors of Blackstone and other Ernst & Young clients whose trades inadvertently manipulated by the insider information (265-266). The most harmful lies were that of Murdoch, ...

Hegel's philosophy is the culmination of the German philosophy development, which began from Kant. Hegel created a grandiose philosophical system, which covered the whole totality of theoretical knowledge at that time. This philosopher comprehended the state and the right as products of reasonable human activities, which were embodied in real public institutions. Hegel's political doctrine had a tremendous impact on the development of political and legal thought. In his teaching, Hegel considered the idea of the state and law, assuming the task of the science of law and the state not the development of ideas about proper and reasonable ...

Appealing to Audience: The Analysis of “Two Broke Girls”

Introduction For the last several years the television has been on the rise creating a product that can easily compete with the big screen movies. The quality of the TV shows increased exponentially and, in the result, it became easier to target the audience in every segment. At the same time, the competition became severe in this sector and the media majors try hard to stay relevant. Nowadays, it is possible to find a TV show that appeals to all categories of viewers from cultural as well as social perspectives. The studios realized that a smart targeting of “their” ...

History, Circumstances, Ethical Issues

“The Italian Tax Mores” case, prepared by Arthur R. Kelly highlights an ethical issue specific to the modern corporate world. The case is based on a real life occurrence, which indicates that the moral absolutes are surpassed by the legal morality, which results in a moral contradiction. Therefore, an American leading bank that opened a subsidiary in Italy was faced with a moral issue when it was forced to apply the “Italian style” for declaring its tax return, which implied lying about the actual tax return by downsizing it with 30 – 70% of its real value (Kelly 54). Although ...

Introduction

Philosophy aims at creating a better understanding of life, nature, matter, God, and whole universe to us. The paper discusses the three aspects of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, and political philosophy in terms of the theoretical framework laid down by prominent philosophers. The paper includes my own ideas regarding these aspects and also critically evaluates my ideals and the ideals of the philosophers so as to understand the distinction between both forms of ideas.

1. Metaphysics

Metaphysics aims at exploring the reality of everything in this universe and countless theories and sub-categories have developed over the ...

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was born in Konigsburg, East Prussia. He attended a classical Latin School at age eight where he studied for the next eight years. He then moved to the University of Konigsburg where he studied mathematics, philosophy and physics. He left his studies for a while when his father died and earned a living as a private tutor. In 1755 he returned to the university and earned his doctorate. He became a professor there teaching metaphysics and logic. In 19792, the King of Prussia prohibited Kant from speaking or writing on religious subjects; Kant obeyed the order. As ...

In the Groundwork Kant makes a claim that hypothetical imperatives because of their dependence on contingent and variable desires, wishes, and ends cannot provide universally valid rules of action for all rational beings, and therefore cannot be moral. Therefore, moral imperatives must be categorical rather than hypothetical. In other words, they must be unconditionally valid rules of action for all rational beings. Moral principles must therefore be formal and be able to serve as universal laws. In a nutshell, according to Kant (i) the moral principles must be categorical imperatives (ii) the concept of a categorical imperative is an idea of an unconditional ...

Intuitionism should be the most interesting phenomenon in modern philosophy. Intuitionism is a view, according to which the knowledge can be directly given to reason, as an inspiration insight, which is more comprehensive than a rational or sensual experience. In ethics it implies a point of view that the basic moral principles understood intuitively rather than through other cognitive processes.

Misconception of Kantian implied idealism that separating the mind from the appreciation of living, sensual contemplation, but also the metaphysical way of thinking, absolutizes distinction between direct and indirect knowledge and unable to find a valid way of development of knowledge.

Kant developed ...

QUESTION 1

Mary is a Conscientious Moral Agent. Identify a moral argument or arguments that Mary can apply in this case. Use the facts of this case to explain the moral reasoning and moral principle(s) that Mary applies in this case.

ANSWER: Given the condition in which Mary was in, it is important that she addresses the situation as impartial as she can be. In this particular case, she should therefore forget that she is the mother of one of the students in the place of employment of one of their patients in the hospital who was having psychological health issues. ...

I am working in Kuwait Ministry of Information at the Salary Department. Employees in my department are responsible for keeping salary accounts of all the staff of the Ministry. The average salary in our Department is below average. The contract provides 35 days of holidays per year. These days should be chosen by an employee himself, provided that he would preliminary book it. The salary is always paid on certain days of the mouth and we, staff of the Salary Department, have to work on these days despite of everything in order to complete the work. The issue ...

Kantian distinction between action done in accord with duty and action done from duty

During the formulation of universal law, Immanuel Kant established a distinction between actions done from duty and actions done in accord with duty. Actions from duty are those motivated by an individual’s desire to do his duty; the actions, however, are not in line with the requirements of morality. In such a situation, the individual is mistaken about what his duty entails. The individual intends to do what he believes is his/her duty; his accomplishment of the task is an action from duty whether it is wrong or right. The person is unaware of the oral facts he should consider ...

Between contractors and owner

The person with the ethical dilemma is the owner of the job, Brown Equipment Company, a heavy equipment dealer. The company wants to construct an office/warehouse and has therefore invited bids from several contractors to do the same. The contractors include Smith Construction, Jones, and Capone among others.

Claim

This person should follow the normal ethical practices that deal with bid solicitation between contractors in the building sector. The normally accepted bidding process starts with the advertisement for bids. Advertisement for bids is a public notice to members of the public, and contractors notifying them about the project. To go with the ...

Every society is guided by a code of conduct that serves as a framework that regulates their action as good or bad. This code of conduct is patterned after a theory of morality that has been formulated by philosophers and moral advocates. Among these are the three classical theories of morality that help guide social conduct and aid in decision making. These theories include Immanuel Kant’s deontology theory, John Stuart Mill’s theory of utilitarianism and Aristotle’s the virtue theory. However, these theories also help influence cultural identity. This paper aims to evaluate the three classical theories in relation to ...

There are many moral lessons that can be found in the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” by Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Some of these moral lessons include simplicity, humility, kindness, cheerfulness, amicability, loyalty, industry, patience, forthrightness, generosity, compassion, contentment, honesty, virtuous, and benevolence. Two morals lessons that are standing out are compassion and contentment – two virtues of Beauty. Throughout the story, Beauty distinguishes herself from many of the characters by her compassion. Without compassion, Beauty would have married any one of her suitors that are willing to marry her even after her father loses all his riches. ...

Introduction

With the current technology, there are many ways to save lives. However, the methods have brought controversies on how right or wrong the application of the methods is. In the medical field, lives have to be saved daily while other lives are lost daily. Some actions are taken to help save lives while others are to fasten the death of the dying patients. There are several factors that must be considered before applying the methods and consultations have to be made with different sources.

With the current technology, it has been possible to perform organ transplants. Body parts are ...

The Name of the School

Introduction Some people argue that to make important advances in clinical and scientific research, sometimes, ethical considerations have to be disregarded. In research, ethical issues are generally thought of as the set of rules that distinguish right from wrong. Ethics can take the form of a generalized rule of thumb, such as the “golden rule,” which says that you should not do to others what you would not like done to yourself; or, ethics can be codes of professional conduct, such as the Hippocratic Oath, which says “First of all, do no harm.” Researchers are usually legally bound to ...

Ethics is often a controversial topic for many to discuss. The reason being is because it includes the opinions that one has developed throughout their life. With that in mind, who is to say that one person’s ethics are better than the others, when they are based on the opinions that each of us have developed through personal experience. That brings the conversation to the idea of stealing. Is stealing always wrong? Potentially. But when using Immanuel Kant’s logic that the ends justify the means there are those who can justify their actions. Stealing for selfish means ...

Racism

There are two main questions that any person who follows Kantian Ethics must ask before they perform any action. Is the action the accepted norm, meaning will others act in the same manner? Will the act respect others and their shared goals? If the answer to either question is no, then under Kantian Ethics it is deemed that one should not perform the action. Immanuel Kant devised a theory by which a person must decide whether or not to perform an action not based on the outcome or consequences, but instead based upon whether or not those actions will fulfill a shared ...

Immanuel Kant’s philosophy about moral judgment as a categorical imperative and unsupported hypothetical imperative is argued by Philippa Foot who defends the moral judgment as hypothetical imperative, while J.L. Mackie confronts Kant’s categorical imperative criticizing it as lacking objective validity. Whereas Foot sustains that moral judgments can be inherent as hypothetical imperatives, Mackie demonstrates that the lack of objectivity in moral judgments leads to an inconsistency in Foot’s argumentation. Besides criticizing the difference between the hypothetical imperatives and the categorical imperatives, grammatically marked through “should” versus “ought”, in his essay “Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives” ...

The ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Mill, and Kant developed philosophical perspectives and morality theories that have contributed to the understanding the role of human beings in the society. We all seek to understand what motivates people to act responsibly? What is the basis of their ethical behavior? Are there limits to the moral obligation to act responsibly? When a child is born, there are various factors that come into play that culminate to the habits and individual portrays. Our cultures play a significant role in enabling us develop moral standards and social responsibility. The culture is a broad collection of the ...

Book Review: “Pointers to Insight” by Soko Morinaga Roshi

It was some time in 100 AD that Mahayana Buddhism of India began to enter China through the merchants that travelled the sea through the Silk Road towards the land of India (Andreasen 5). Three mainstreams began to take form (i.e., Ch’an Buddhism, Cheng-yen Buddhism, and Pure Land Buddhism), as it emphasized how human beings had had the ability to free themselves through meditation. By 500 AD, Ch’an Buddhism reached the shores of Japan, where it was called Zen Buddhism—using the word Zen to mean meditation (Andreasen 6). Thus, Buddhism in Japan became well developed by ...

Assignment Title

Categorical imperative for me Categorical imperative is the highest moral principle the man can choose to pursue. According to Kant the moral principle that we choose for ourselves should be unconditional, i.e. not depending on empirical conditions or objects of desire. It ultimately can be formulated as “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law" (Kant & Ellington, 1993, p. 30). For me the categorical imperatives that I abide by are the following: 1. I should constantly develop my own intelligence, skills, abilities and talents. ...

Kant argues that the virtue of any actions is dependent on the underlying motivation, which should be borne out duty as against motivation. It is easy to understand how everybody’s fulfilment of their duty (as opposed to self-interest and other extraneous interests) would lead to morally right decisions. However, the infeasibility of Kant’s suggestion of an abstractly conceived moral law that may guide decision-makers to reach the right decision in every set of circumstances renders this theory impractical. Ethical challenges change every single day, more than it can be envisaged by whomever it is that would attempt ...

Harvard University

Kant on Ethics There are those who would ascribe the human sense of morality, the sense of right and wrong, on religion; others, such as Immanuel Kant, on reason. The principal basis upon which Kant imputes morality is on good will, which he claims is an intrinsic value universal to all people, independent from external influences. But for good will to be valid, any good action that issues from such good will must be motivated by good will and a sense of duty – not whether one is inclined to do good. The motivation to do good stems from within ...

Deontology is philosophy of ethics proposed by Kant, which is based on absolute ethics and morality. Deontological ethics demand perfect morals and ethics that are universal in nature. This school of thought believes in focusing more on means than the consequences/ends (consequentialism). Moreover, deontology demands its adherers to focus on their own conduct and course of actions than criticizing or scrutinizing the behavior of others. Deontological ethics are criticized by the opponents of this theory as according to them, the ethics and morals presented by Kant are influenced by a religious philosophy and has no scientific reasoning behind its stance. ...

Morality and Utilitarianism

Categorical Imperative Kant’s concept of categorical imperative states that people should follow actionable maxims, which have the potential to be applied universally without the development of any self-defeating contradiction. In essence, the framework of a categorical imperative propels a human being to do an action regardless of consequences of the action; ergo, if an action is ethically right in itself, and can be applied universally, it falls into the domain of the categorical imperative. An example of an ethical dilemma meriting debate though the prism of Kant’s Categorical Imperative is the situation where a person is running late ...

Abstract

“The main reason knowledge is produced is to solve problems.” The following paper explores this statement, dealing with the premise that knowledge itself has an inherent purpose to solve a particular need, which is what motivates humanity to gain said knowledge. Areas of knowledge have their own processes for producing knowledge, from the objective analysis of the sciences to the subjective analysis of the arts. In essence, the purpose of finding knowledge is to solve the inherent issues that come with humanity and sentience – namely, discovering what our collective purposes are, and finding ways to address the unknown in order ...

While both Kant and Hobbes offer their theories on morality, interestingly, the two theories are quite opposed and contrasting. The disparity can perhaps be explained by differences in their theses. Kant’s theory is based on the rationalistic model, while Hobbes prefers an empirical approach. Nevertheless, a common theme in their approaches is that both of them adopt a subjective point of view. In other words, they prefer a person centered or subjective approach on the issue of morality. The following discussion will compare the approaches of two thinkers on the issue of morality and will also highlight the differences between them. ...

Philosophy

According to Aristotle, human virtue appears in two forms including moral virtue based on experience and time, and moral virtue results from habits. In the book Nicomachean Ethics, he asserts that happiness is the greatest good and the end goal among humans. He considers supreme good as an activity of rational mind which is equivalent to excellence in Greece. A virtuous individual performs distinctive activities of being human well, and rationality is the distinctive activity that differentiate humans from other animals and plants. Humans are different and above all because they have a rational soul governing their thoughts. Aristotle considers ...