Kantian Imperatives

In our discussion I focused upon applying the concepts of choice, imperatives, human worth, and external human conditions to an analysis of twenty first century societies: Tibet and China. We began by listing indicators of freedom of choice in the movie that were distinctly Kantian or Utilitarian. For instance, the captains initial strategy for keeping the lifeboat moving towards land was to save everyone, not even considering the hardships of having ill and injured people aboard. However, there was a socialite on the boat who repeatedly placed her worth above others and entertained the idea of killing off or throwing off other people. She displayed expediency, the quality of being practical despite immorality. We then compared this to the

In the movie, the categorical imperative (bound to moral obligation regardless of situation) displayed at the beginning of the movie was simply that murder is immoral and not an option. However, as the movie progressed the possibility of everyone dying from a lack of resources served as a hypothetical imperative to then sacrifice passengers for the benefit of the society as a whole. In the context of Tibet and China we once again see the dichotomy of thinking. The Tibetan people displayed a categorical imperative, standing with the path of nonviolence as a peaceful route to resolving tensions with the newfound Chinese rulers regardless of the volume of those killed, displaced, or harmed. China, in a conversely Utilitarian sense, justified their actions by emphasizing the benefit of reclaiming

In the movie, before the decision to kill passengers was made, the captain saw worth in every passenger, including those who were injured. This was displayed by the lengths he went to attempt to treat the wounded and keep them conscious. Conversely, toward the end of the movie, when it seemed as though the weak did not have much time left to live the captain saw more worth in the fit as they would benefit this mini society more. The challenge of keeping the weak alive posed a threat to the society and so the human beings were devalued. The worth of every human life was no longer the same. This same concept is shown the Kantian actions of Tibet post-takeover. The people refused to engage in violence as they equated Chinese lives to their own and did not choose to take it away. The human conditions that make this possible are both external and internal. The external conditions include the almost socialistic state, where the entire country does not feed off capitalism and business but rather spirituality and community. This stems from the leader of the country, the Dalai Lama, not only being a political figure but also, a Buddhist icon. The teachings of Buddhism are fundamental to the workings of the society thus pushing categorical imperatives into the education system established. Materialism is considered to be indulgent