Analysis Of Kantian Ethics And Ethical Egoism

Introduction In Written Assignment #1, I will be talking discussing Situation #1 about Frank Van Den Bleeken. I will be comparing it to Kantian Ethics and Ethical Egoism.

Section A Kantian Ethics is described as having two formulations as well as three perfect duties to which according to Kant, allow us to lead ethical lives. The first formulation describes “Act only on that maxim (i.e. personal rule) that you can will as a universal law.” (Wolcott, 2015) According to MacKinnon (2012, p. 78) “(…) whatever I consider doing, it must be something that I can will or accept that all others do. To will something universally is similar to willing is as a law (…).” Now, for the most part, it can be universally agreed upon that rape and murder are

(Wolcott, 2015) According to MacKinnon (2012, p. 79) “(…) we should not simply use others or let ourselves be used.” The Oxford English Dictionary (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2015) describes rape as “(…) forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will.” Based on this definition, Bleeken has used another woman for sex, and therefore, for his own personal pleasure. Kantian Ethics also describes autonomy, stating that “people choose their own lives.” (MacKinnon, 2012) Based on the definition of autonomy, Bleeken has chosen to rape and murder, therefore forming/choosing (if you will) to live his own life as punishment for rape and murder, as outlined by his life-long prison sentence. Kantian Ethics also outlines three perfect duties; the first one stating that one shall not lie, a second one stating that one shall not break any promises, and, a third one stating that one shall not commit suicide. Bleeken has not broken any of the perfect duties, except for one; one shall not commit suicide. While Bleeken is not taking his own life, he is requesting that someone administers a sedative to end his life for him, and therefore is essentially asking someone to commit suicide for his own

O’Connor (2015, para. 2) Bleeken claims that “he could not face the rest of his life in jail.” According to the summary on Bleeken, B. Wolcott (2015), it was “cited that life imprisonment would cause him ‘unbearable psychological anguish’.” By this definition, it is quite clear that Bleeken wants to go through with physician assisted suicide as he would like to end the suffering that he is currently experiencing while in prison. However, Ethical Egoism states that one must weigh the long-term and short-term benefits of a decision upon themselves. For Bleeken, one long term benefit is that he would no longer have to continue serving his life-sentence in prison after 30 years. Another long-term benefit is that there is no chance of Bleeken re-committing these acts as he will have passed on. However, in terms of short-term benefits, I personally cannot see any except to re-iterate that he would have to serve a small sentence in prison by ending his