Its emphasis is on a person’s individual character when it comes to ethical thinking as opposed to consequences and actions. Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism, Louis P. Pojman Kant describes taking a possible action, a maxim, and testing whether it is morally permissible for a person to act in that manner by seeing if it would be morally permissible for all people in all times to act in that same manner. case of enquiring murderer, not allowed to lie, but is this true of the theory itelf, Kant says people who do their duty out of a sense of sympathy or kindness are just as good as those who have to control themselves to do their duty, we may try to influence our feelings indirectly and then it is not so clear that Kant's position is out of step with our moral intuitions, not situation based so can be hard to apply to specifics, Weakness: confusion between deontology and teleology, basic idea is deontological but there is a future goal = kingdom of ends, Weakness: freedom contradicts categorical imperative, postulation of freedom contradicts theory that moral agents must obey principles given in categorical imperative, People rarely act purely out of duty, almost always have some expectation, placing duty above love and personal relations = cold and inhuman, postulation of God to explain rationally ordered world, Kantian ethics does not help the situation of the double effect, Kant never addresses the definition of a person = issues with application e.g. Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill. Kant is famous for revolutionising how we think about just about every aspect of the world — including science, art, ethics, religion, the self and reality. Consequences are difficult since we are not all knowing. Natural Law. W. D. Ross developed Kant's moral law theory. So, for example, Kant thought that it would be wrong to tell a Before understanding the strengths and weaknesses of Kantian ethics, one must first have thorough understanding of Kantian ethics itself, and how it can be differentiated from other forms of ethics such as Utilitarianism. Kant’s Ethical Theory Strengths Weaknesses Autonomous ends – Kant’s theory respects the dignity and rationality of all people. Someone who follows Duty-based ethics should do the right thing, even if that produces more harm (or less good) than doing the wrong thing: People have a duty to do the right thing, even if it produces a bad result. Rational, consistent, impartial: Kant’s view emphasizes the importance of rationality, consistency, impartiality, and respect for persons in the way we live our lives. The stand point of Kant’s ethics is the “Good will”. I recommend group work at this stage that enables students to work with non-consequentialist and consequentialist approaches in order both to consolidate previous work on consequentialism and develop critical comparisons. Natural Law. electrocuting someone or completing a circuit, not the universalisability of any description, but the reason you actually had and the second formulation seeks to avoid this, Weakness: inflexible (cannot use in conjunction with Macintyre), Kant's moral theory = inflexible and absolutist = does not take into account important details of cases, Kant thought this himself e.g. the news – really helps them to see both the strengths and weaknesses of Kant’s and Ross’ ethics. In answering the question, evaluate and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the utilitarian's argument as to whether or not the Cornell research study in Haiti was ethical. The reason Kant gives for this, is that it is our moral duty is to tell the truth. An ethics of care in essence takes that model from the family and extends it out into the world of business. 16. In favor of Kant’s ethical view:. The main method by which I propose to avoid some of the difficulties of Kant's moral theory is by explaining only one part of the theory. Kant’s theory doesn’t make this mistake. Answered by Ben G. Need help with . That’s what ethical egoism wants us to do. Evaluation of Kant’s ethical view: A. On balance, Kantian ethics has more weaknesses than strengths, evaluation will be recognised throughout the essay. Strength: corrects natural law. Weaknesses • The theory does not give clear moral rules and guidance, unlike Kantian ethics or Natural Moral Law. 25/01/2017 — 0 Comments. Although the masculinity-femininity dynamic in Unification ontology could be the basis for a gender-based approach to moral reasoning, this essay focuses on the questions of non-gender based, general principles of ethics. Strength: duty vs preference. scientific revolution, uses a scientific approach to ethics. The goal of reducing personal harm while increasing happiness is something that every person pursues at some point in their life. Utilitarianism is a consequence based ethics perspective which makes decisions that promote the greatest overall amount of good consequences over bad consequences for the greatest number of people in the world. Applying it to the promotion question, if there’s a member of Oil-Dri saddled by, let’s say, a difficulty with alcohol, then that might actually be a positive consideration within care-based thought. NATURAL LAW AND CHRISTIANITY. Basic Strengths and Weaknesses of Kantian Ethics Main strengths of Kantian ethics: * Clarity - Kantian ethics is clear and easy to follow. 11 Virtue Ethics Strengths and Weaknesses Virtue Ethics is one of the three approaches of normative ethics and is attributed to its founding fathers, Plato and Aristotle.