Tuesday, January 22, 2013
My views on Deontological Ethics/ Kant
After reading the views of Immanuel Kant, I think that I am sold on deontology. It makes perfect since that the rightness and wrongness of an act should be determined by its qualities not its assumed consequences. Going against individual moral principles therefore would be unacceptable for the sake of a guess. If morality is something that we all are familiar with, it would just make the most logical sense that obeying these principles should be absolute, not being contingent depending on certain circumstances. What made the most since is Kant's test to determine the moral status of an act. According to Kant, if the principle the act is based on could logically be a universal law, then the act is acceptable. For example, if a situation calls for an individual to lie for the sake of potentially doing good, Kant argues that since ethics are absolute, If the law made it so that people have to tell lies instead of the truth that would not be right. I most certainly agree with this.
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Do you have to take your self out of the equation? What do you mean by this "taking out" of a person in relation to these ideas? For Deontology, I would say that the self is an integral part of the equation because you base what action you will take on the moral principles of your self. One must think of the self, the principles he has aspired to.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the posts talk about having to take yourself out or pulling yourself out of the situation in order to do what is morally right, whether it be a utilitarian view or a deontological one. I agree with that, because sometimes, in order to do what is morally right according to the universal law might not necessarily be what you think is right. I think what Ethan means by "taking yourself out" is separating yourself from the situation so that you can do what needs to be done even if you don't agree with it, like in the case of the fat man stuck in the cave. If it comes to the point where a majority of those trapped in the cave think that you should blow up the fat man, and you don't agree with them, but if it has to be done, you have to distance yourself from the situation. You have to think about the greater good.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you Chris because the morality of a situation should lie within its intentions and the actions that follow. It is often said the the future is uncertain, therefore why would you trust that your future expectations or consequences should even be considered?
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