Ethics In Kantian Ethics

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People face ethical choices every day, and there are several different approaches towards reaching a decision. A professor is tasked with making a decision as to whether he should report a high-achieving student, Charlie, for plagiarizing an article. The professor must use reasoning and ethics. One of the most famous form of ethics is Kantian ethics, which is a form of deontology, or duty-based ethics. The professor can use Kantian ethics to make his decision, or he can take into account the context of the situation to further asses as I would do. Overall, Kantian ethics are based on duty, and the duty is to perform universally good actions. For this form of ethics, good will is defined as the good. Kant highlights that “a good will is good…[because] …show more content…

The professor first must identify a possible maxim of the situation, or the rule of thumb, for the first formulation. The professor’s maxim for this dilemma is to not report his plagiarism to school. If everyone followed that maxim, the professor could still do this. Regardless, it’s not desirable to live in a world where everyone followed said maxim. Then, analyze the maxim with the second formulation, which asks if a moral agent is used as a means in this decision. The professor is being used as a means by the student to avoid the consequences of plagiarism. As a result, this maxim is morally wrong according to Kant. However, there is another possible maxim the professor can follow, which is to tell the truth to the administration and report Charlie for plagiarism. One can conclude with the first formulation that this maxim can still be used if everyone did it and that a world where everyone followed this maxim is desirable. The second formulation also states that this maxim does not use anyone as a means to reach and end. Therefore, the latter maxim is a morally right action according to Kant. With the categorical imperative, the professor can conclude that the Kantian decision is to tell the truth and report the

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