Ethics is as fascinating as ever. We're now on Kant's Moral Theory. Immanuel Kant's theory says that you should do something that is right because it is right and for no other reason. That's cool. I can agree with it. The question is, how do you determine what is right? Immanuel Kant came up with a very logical, reasonable method for determining if an action is right: ask yourself, "If everyone did this all the time, would it work?" The example Kant uses is false promises. If everyone made false promises all the time, no one would believe anyone because we would all know that the person is making a false promise.

Another way of determining whether an action is wrong is based on a belief in the intrinsic value of a person. A person is valuable because they are a person, and that, therefore, should be taken into consideration when determining whether an action is right. Are you respecting a person for what they are--a person--when you do something? I don't get this part as much as I get the universalizing method, so I'm just going to use a quote from the book.

MacKinnon, Barbara. Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2007, 76-78.

"Although I may in some sense use someone--for example, to paint my house--I may not simply use them. The goal of getting my house patined must also be the goal of the painter, who is also a person and not just an object to be used by me for my own ends. She must know what is involved in the project. I cannot lie to her to manipulate her into doing something to which she would otherwise not agree. And she must agree to paint the house voluntarily rather than be coerced into doing it."

I'm going to run around testing actions now to see if they're right or wrong, according to Kant's theory.

Test 1: Murder

If everyone murdered all the time, the human population would eventually be exterminated. Therefore murder is wrong.

Test 2: Stealing

If everyone stole all the time, life on earth would not work, because no one would be able to keep what they have. Therefore stealing is wrong.

Those are just two to start with, and using only the first way of determining whether an action is right or wrong. Input, anyone?

-Stephanie

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