morality

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What is morality? What is being moral? Is it just being able to make the decision from right and wrong making the right decisions from good and bad? There are many great philopshers who had their own ideas on morality. Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Aristotle and Virginia Held all had different ideas and or approaches to resolving ethical problems. Though each of them differs from each other they each have their own positive and negative attributes. Kant’s theory argues that the moral worth of an action is to be judged not by its consequences but the nature of the maxim or principle that motivated the action. He states the right actions are not necessarily those with favorable consequences but those performed with accordance with correct maxims. Kant also defines the correct maxims are the ones that can serve as universal laws (79). According to Kant there is a formula for the “Unversal Law,” First we wold have to figure out the general principle we would be actin on. We can use his example of borrowing money knowing you can pay it back. In order for us to universalize the maxim we must think if everyone were in “X” situation they would all do “Y.” So if everyone needed to borrow money knowing they could not pay it back they would then like and make a false promise. So this cold not be a universal law because if everyone started making false promises a promise would mean nothing and would only be using someone as a means. Kant also discusses categorical imperative and hypothetical imperative; categorical imperative is an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and independent of any personal motive or law “to act for the state of duty”(81). One objection to Kants theory would be that duties that resul... ... middle of paper ... ... self in a situation to because I have learned that it would be wrong to. Some people would disagree that we need some kind of universal law or that we had to think of the consequences. That was something that did not even cross my mind I was not worried about the consequences I was worried about his feelings and I was remembered what I had been taught. Tom Regan believes in personal preference, Just because one says they like something or believe in something does not mean they are denying what someone else may like or believe. Also, just because I believe something is correct does not make it correct just because I want it to be. So, because that this was my personal preference to follow Aristotle and Held’s theories does not make it wrong nor does it make it right it is just my personal preference. Just as if someone were to follow any of these moral theories.

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