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A 6 page research paper that examines the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Numerous philosophers have attempted to answer the question of what constitutes moral conduct. One of the most famous philosophers to do so was Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). In his text Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant outlined a complete moral philosophy that offers guidelines or "maxims" that provide a structure upon which the individual can base moral decisions. The following discussion examines the basis of Kantian morality and then compares it to the Utilitarian perspective developed by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
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6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khkamimo.rtf
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his text Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant outlined a complete moral philosophy that offers guidelines or "maxims" that provide a structure upon which the individual can base moral
decisions. The following discussion examines the basis of Kantian morality and then compares it to the utilitarian perspective developed by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Kant proposes that it is
the emotion behind an action that determines whether or not that action is moral. Kant writes that "It is impossible to think of anything at all in the world, or
indeed even beyond it, that could be considered good without limitation except good will" (Kant, 1997, p. 7). Kant further argues that "A good will is not good because of
what it effects or accomplishes, because of its fitness to attain some proposed end, but only because of its volition, that is, it is good in itself" (1997, p.
8). In applying this philosophy to moral action, Kant states, "I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim (a course
of action) should become a universal law" (1997, p. 15). As this suggests, Kant sees moral law as being a priori, that is, before experience, inherent in the very
nature of human thought. Kants stance is extremely rational. However, some of his maxims prove to be unworkable in regards to certain moral situations. For example, Kant considered honesty
to be a universal maxim, and that not telling the absolute truth under all circumstances insulted the dignity of the deceived (Sommers, 1985). Under this rationale, people who lied to
Nazi officers about the location of Jews committed an immoral act. Obviously, this was not an immoral act, but, as Sommers points out, this indicates that a fallacy does
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