Ethical Decision Making Assignment
Gurwinder Singh
Professor Denniston
Ethics of Engagement
11/15/10
We all end up at a point where we have to respond to an issue positively. That is possible when a good amount of experience to certain situations is attained. “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals 'utility' or the 'greatest happiness principle' holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” - John Stuart Mill. This particular quote refers to the utilitarian approach which states that in all our actions we must always strive to produce the greatest possible balance of good or evil. The utilitarian approach deals with consequences. It tries both to increase the good done and to reduce the harm done. Immanuel Kant was an important component in modern philosophy. He combined together early modern rationalism and empiricism and continues to practice an important influence today in ethics. He disputes that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end”- Immanuel Kant. In this particular quote Kant gives us a message to treat people with respect and never get them to believe something that doesn't exist. Carol Gilligan maintains that the morality of males is different from that of females. Males view rules and principles as necessary to proceed in a practice (a game, an art, a science, the making and sustaining of a community). Females, on the other hand, give fundamental importance to the consistency of relationships with other people. Gilligan describes male morality as a morality of principles
Professor Denniston
Ethics of Engagement
11/15/10
We all end up at a point where we have to respond to an issue positively. That is possible when a good amount of experience to certain situations is attained. “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals 'utility' or the 'greatest happiness principle' holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” - John Stuart Mill. This particular quote refers to the utilitarian approach which states that in all our actions we must always strive to produce the greatest possible balance of good or evil. The utilitarian approach deals with consequences. It tries both to increase the good done and to reduce the harm done. Immanuel Kant was an important component in modern philosophy. He combined together early modern rationalism and empiricism and continues to practice an important influence today in ethics. He disputes that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end”- Immanuel Kant. In this particular quote Kant gives us a message to treat people with respect and never get them to believe something that doesn't exist. Carol Gilligan maintains that the morality of males is different from that of females. Males view rules and principles as necessary to proceed in a practice (a game, an art, a science, the making and sustaining of a community). Females, on the other hand, give fundamental importance to the consistency of relationships with other people. Gilligan describes male morality as a morality of principles