Categorical Immperative Case Study

1045 Words3 Pages

A twelve-year-old girl, Monique, comes from a low-income family. There are nights in which Monique does not eat dinner due to her mom never having the money to feed her. The mother always spends her last bit of money on drugs. Monique does not any type of family members that can help her and the mother financially out. One day, Monique goes to her after school program, StreetSquash, and decides to steal snacks from the cabinet so that she will not starve through the night. Are Monique’s actions ethical?
Monique can steal the snacks from the cabinet and does not have to worry about starving during nights. By Monique stealing, she would create a habit that she now has to steals and justifying her by stealing the snacks. If she keeps stealing, …show more content…

Due to his philosophy, Kant saw Categorical Imperative as a big factor for society. Categorical Imperative is an unacceptable command and no matter what, people should always obey rules and never go against them. However, Kant views a “good” person as someone who always follow their duty just because it’s their duty. In this dilemma. Kant would ask two questions towards Monique’s actions. The first question is, “can I rationally will that everyone act as I propose to act”. The second question is, “does my action respect the goals of human beings rather than merely using them for my own purposes?” Kant would answer both of these questions with the response of saying no, the person should not perform the action. Therefore, Monique’s action is not considered ethical. Monique’s actions are immoral because she is stealing snacks from a person that is unaware of and it is taking. Stealing is considered breaking a rule/law and does not justify Monique’s …show more content…

Gilligan 's explains in her philosophy, people can not only look at a situation based off on particular gender due to the fact both genders can view the situation differently. A male can view a situation as “simple” and straight to the point rather than a female which they tend to put their emotions towards the situation. Therefore, you cannot compare both genders because they will always have different perspectives. Age also plays an important role when making decisions. Children tend to not worry about their actions and consequences they’ll have to face when completing the action, whereas adults are able to understand their actions and still face consequences. In this ethical dilemma, Gilligan would ask a male and female their perspective about Monique’s situation and her actions being ethical. In a male’s perspective, he would see it as Monique is hungry and she needs to eat at night which justifies her actions. A female would look at in emotional perspective as she may show sympathy towards Monique’s actions and also justify Monique as being an independent young woman because she is taking care of herself. In Gilligan perspective, age in this dilemma makes a difference from adults and children decisions. Children 's brains are not fully developed yet, in which they sometimes do not think with about other ways to get food. Adult’s actions would be different compared to

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