Cheating is Against The Rules

I only have two hours to study for tomorrow’s math midterm due to the additional three essays and two presentations I have to turn in for my other classes. I have divided my available hours and for this exam, I could either study for two hours and not get a good grade, or break the rules by using the notes during the exam, therefore getting a guaranteed A. What should I do?

Cheating is against the rules of all corporations, institutions, and life. It is not viewed as morally correct because as one cheats, one is taking the easy way out and disrespecting those who work hard for the same outcome, therefore breaking binding contract of respecting others around you. It is tempting though, as we know the outcome if we are not caught, and it is mostly one of achievement. Immanuel Kant believed that “an action is moral when it is done out of duty, rather than out of consequences.” If we were to decide our actions based on what will happen by us doing them, then we wouldn’t be acting in a moral way because we would always be choosing the actions that would benefit us each time. We would never help others if it would not benefit us in return and, we would be willing to harm others if in the end, we would get a beneficial outcome. What guides our actions is our maxim, or what drives us to choose to do something. But, Kant says that this action is not morally correct if our maxim is not a universal law, or can be adopted by everybody around us. Using Kant’s analytical terms and tactics to define a moral action, I will explain that cheating in an exam is in no way a morally correct action and therefore in order to act in a morally correct way, I should not cheat.

Kants philosophy is shaped by the principles of Enlightment which state that...

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...e law by which individuals should treat themselves and all others never as mere means but always as ends in themselves,” therefore making the professor and the students in my class as part of the consideration of my action to be moral or immoral. If I were to be giving a test, then I would not like for my students to be cheating on it because to me, this is disrespectful since I would be working hard to educate my students and testing will be a response to the knowledge of the material. Also, if I were to be another student in my class who worked hard the night before to study and achieve his goal of a good grade, then it would not be fare for another student to get the same grade as me by cheating in the exam. Therefore, I would not like for my action of cheating to be applied to me, and so

It would not be correct for me to cheat.

In conclusion, I shall not cheat.