Verified Document

George Simply Paying Attention. It A Long Essay

George simply paying attention. It a long drive back home family's winter vacation, Interstate coming downtown area city. His wife front. In backseat young daughter younger brother, feeling sick home.ID George's dilemma: Kant vs. consequentialism (utilitarianism)

According to Kant's categorical imperative, the ethical actor must behave as if he is setting a law for all time, not merely dealing with the specifics of every ethical situation. Taking a bribe is wrong, and factors such as George's weariness, his son's illness, and other situational factors do not make the taking of the bribe less immoral. The categorical imperative is categorical because there are no conditions limiting its expression. It is stated by Kant: "I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law' (4:402). This is the principle which motivates a good will, and which Kant holds to be the fundamental principle of all of morality" (Johnson 2010).

A more colloquial formulation of the categorical imperative might be that 'two wrongs don't make a right'. This can be seen even in the example of George's speeding, an action which Kant would also disapprove of, given that the contingent circumstances of George's son's illness were used by George as an excuse to speed. It is never okay to break the law and George's law-breaking led to his subsequent dilemma with the police officer.

It is easy to find 'good' reasons to be immoral and far harder to obey moral precepts. There are many emotional...

His son is not deathly ill, and although the police officer is behaving immorally, George's immorality will simply compound the problem. What will George do the next time he is offered a bribe, once he sets the principle that he will engage in bribery to make life easy for himself and his family?
A consequentialist might say that that in this situation, extending a bribe will make George's family happier -- his son can go home and his wife and daughter will never know about the bribe. Consequentialism views morality as something that must be engaged in on a situation-by-situation basis. One example of consequentialism is utilitarianism, which proposes a strict calculus for deciding what moral actions to take. In general, utilitarianism supports the idea of doing the 'greatest good for the greatest possible number' of people. George could rationalize that if he gives the bribe, those who might be morally corrupted by his actions (his children and wife) will be none the wiser, he gets to go home to watch the game, and his son can be put to bed at a reasonable hour. "Utilitarianism is also distinguished by impartiality and agent-neutrality. Everyone's happiness counts the same. When one maximizes the good, it is the good impartially considered. My good counts for no more than anyone else's good. Further, the reason I have to promote the overall good is the same reason anyone else has to so promote the good. It is not peculiar to me"…

Sources used in this document:
References

Driver, Julia. (2009). The history of utilitarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Retrieved:

<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/utilitarianism-history/>.

Johnson, Robert, (2010). Kant's moral philosophy The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2010/entries/kant-moral/>.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

George Orwell's 1984 Post-9/11 America
Words: 2429 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like "freedom is slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate will be different. In fact there will be no thought as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking - not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness (Orwell 54). So clearly the masses are understanding the

Suicide Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, George Sanders,
Words: 2270 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Suicide Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, George Sanders, and Virginia Woolf- what do all these people have in common? Death by suicide. Hard as it may be to swallow, the fact remains that these very famous people who were viewed as successful and had the world at their feet, took their own lives in a fit of depression, anger, melancholia and out of sheer hopelessness. But this phenomenon is not exclusive to

Mindfulness and Martial Arts
Words: 14405 Length: 40 Document Type: Dissertation or Thesis complete

Mindful vs. traditional martial arts toward improved academic grades in children diagnosed with ADHD While medication and psychotherapy are the current best practice in treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), their benefits and aim are too peripheral and topical -- neither resolving the neurological origin of deficits. Moreover, many are opposed to these treatments and there are few substantiated and readily accepted alternatives. The consequences of ADHD have a ripple effect --

Contrarian Investment Strategies Over the
Words: 26080 Length: 73 Document Type: Thesis

" This is significant because it shows how some critics of contrarian investing will often point to the various instances of speculation and assume that it is contrarian investing. In some cases the psychology of consumers can become so extreme, that the definition of what is speculative expands greatly. As a result, using contrarian investing in conjunction with other indicators / tools can help prudent investors and traders, be able to

Community Oriented Policing
Words: 6694 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

Community Oriented Policing new and comprehensive strategy against crime: Community Policing: For the purpose of reducing neighborhood crimes, creating a sense of security and reduce fear of crimes among the citizens and improving the quality of life in the community, the community policing strategy will be proved to be the most effective one. The accomplishment of all these objectives to develop a healthy and clean society can be done by combining the

Love Relationships
Words: 3105 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Romantic Love In my first year of college, I enjoyed an extremely passionate love relationship. We met during freshman orientation and our initial chemistry was instant as well as mutual. Actually, on the night we met he "rescued" me, so to speak, because one of the guys from my dormitory floor was annoying me by the way he ignored all of my very obvious signals that I was not particularly interested

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now