The Parable of the Sadhu

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Parable of the Sadhu: Analysis from three general approaches.

The "Parable of the Sadhu" presents a complex situation which action immediate action was necessary. Sadhu, an Indian holy man, was discovered naked and barely alive by a group of multicultural mountaineers during their journey. Each ethnic group did a little to help the Sadhu, but none assumed full responsibility. Their priority was in climbing the mountain rather than carrying Sadhu to the village where other people could help him. Although the conditions of the trip were so that once the mountaineers went down to the village they might not have been able to come back up, the author of this essay still feels guilty for what was not done for the Sadhu (Donaldson 280). There are three general approaches in examining a moral issue and making a decision, those being consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. The essay does not clearly indicate which method was used to assess the situation. In my opinion, the best method would be Kantian deontology.

Let us discuss consequentialism first. Consequentialism focuses on consequences as the most important factor in the decision making process (Donaldson 3). For consequentialists the motives of an act are not as important as what comes out of it. Utilitarianism is one of the branches of consequentialism. Utilitarianism believes in the greatest good for the number (Donaldson 3). This method along with egoist consequentialism was probably the one that w...

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