Journal Entry # 3

Imagine that you have been asked to give a Lunch Time Lecture at the Library on Kants ethics. Explain to your audience the key eatures o Kants approach to making moral decisions. !e sure to give at least one example" and then either de end or critici#e Kants approach. $%&' page response" () %' *t T+,-

Kant believed that people are inherently evil. )o" a .ay must be ound in order to keep people rom doing bad things. In his opinion" the .ay to do this .as to treat everyone as an end in themselves and not means to an end. /eaning" he .anted us to treat people as human beings. +ot as the steps o a ladder. 0e believed that good ethical values come .ith the good .ill. 1s long as .e act .ith a good .ill" best intentions" no matter the conse2uence is" it is considered good ethics. 0e also thought o a .ay o 3udging .hether it is right to do is action. 0e thought that i an action is going to be moral" it should be able to be applied to everyone. In other .ords" .e should be able to universali#e it. 0e called them maxims. 4hen .e .ant to decide about something .hether it is moral or not" .hat he suggested .as to think o everyone doing that. /eaning that" the orm o the action is going to be a rule that can be applied or everyone" possible to universali#e. I it is morally acceptable" it means that it has good morals" i not" it means that you need to modi y your thoughts so it .ould be acceptable or everyone. This actually is the basic orm o ob3ectivity. 0e .anted us to be not sub3ective. 5or instinct" i a criminal is going to be punished and he po.er o choosing the punishment is in your hands. Lets say that he is guilty o the t. 6ou have the po.er o imprisoning him or an appropriate time period or cutting his hand .hich he stole .ith. 4hat .ould your choice be i he is a really bad person in your opinion7 I the punishment that you think is as brutal as

cutting his hand o " you should consider the same thing or your o.n children. 4ould you decide the same thing i the thie .as a close relative o yours as your children7 It does not have to be as close as this" you may consider him a really nice person as .ell. I the ans.er is di erent to those 2uestions then you should reconsider your decision because it is not possible in your mind to universali#e it. I .e come to the example o the treating people as an end in themselves" or example i .e are in a situation that .e can bene it rom someone inancially" ho.ever .e kno. that it is going to a ect him negatively. I .e dont care ho. he is going to be a ected by our actions" it means that .e are not treating him as a person. 1nd this means that .e are using him as a means to our end. This is an unacceptable orm o moral in Kants point o vie.. I .e .ere to critici#e the Kants vie.s" I think that the universali#ation o the ideas and re orming them until they are acceptable or everyone is really e ective .ay to keep good morals. Treating people as an end in themselves is a good .ay o keeping your o.n bene its a ect other people badly. 0o.ever his vie. about 3ust having a good .ill .hile doing things and not considering the conse2uences o those actions may bring bad results. 0e claims that the conse2uences cannot be kno.n exactly there ore .e should be acting according to our intentions. I think that even it cannot be kno.n exactly" considering the conse2uences be ore acting .ould be a better .ay o oreseeing .hether our acting is good or not.