Preview

Kant's Code Of Ethics In Flying

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1953 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kant's Code Of Ethics In Flying
Some might argue that flying airplanes has a bad impact on the environment in terms of the noise and emissions they emit. This contention has lead to a debate where the question whether one should be allowed to fly or if it can be considered as morally unjust due to the negative consequences the issue might raise. One can therefore look into different theories such as utilitarianism, categorical imperative or virtue ethics to analyze whether the issue can be justified or not. One could also consider the theories of Rawls and Nozick in terms of reflecting upon this controversy. This essay will analyze and apply different perspectives on how one might interpret the issue of flying.
Firstly one has to recognize the fact that airlines are essentially
…show more content…
Kant argues for that one's actions do not depend on the goodness of the consequences of those actions, a person is considered to be good or bad depending on their motivation behind their actions i.e what reason caused you to perform that action. He argues that one can have moral worth if one is motivated by morality. Meaning that if the reason one does a certain actions due to emotions or desire then that action does not provide one with moral worth, however, one will achieve moral worth when one does something because they know it is their duty and one would do it whether one liked it or not. If two people were to be drunk on the street and one gets hit by a car whilst the other does not then the pedestrian who did not get hit by a car is not provided with moral worth because he got lucky, this is because both had made equally bad choices and the other's luck does not make them any better than the one who got hurt. The same proposition applies to those who act for the right reason as they are both morally worthy even if either of the outcome of the consequences are bad and lead to bad luck. This means that Kant argues for a person is a good person, a person of moral worth, who always does their duty because it is their duty even if they enjoy what they are doing although they would have to do it even if they did not …show more content…
This is why one could argue that politicians and civilians would have the same opinion regarding this matter, however it is up to the individual to determine what way one should approach this issue. This means that it can be argues that one can create one's own ethical theory in way one wants to approach different dilemmas whereas some might follow the actual ethics mentioned throughout the essay or create their own meaning of what they believe is morally just or unjust. Nowadays, people have recognized the issue and have perhaps been trying to find alternative ways to better the emissions emitted by the airplanes but it has not gotten to the point where any extreme actions towards aviation businesses has been taken. People will not stop flying unless there is a better excuse than to simply stop because the effects it has on nature does not affect people directly hence why people tend to give this issue less attention. Unless something has direct impact on a person, the average person is more or less likely to not give the issue as much recognition as they should which is why leaders who handle environmental questions are trying hard to raise awareness of the issue regarding emissions so future generations will not have to live in a world where this issue has gotten out of hand. In addition to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to present, discuss, and examine the topic of ethical and social responsibility. It will discuss Southwest Airlines ' failure to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration 's rules on inspecting aircraft and what violations occurred. On March 6, 2008, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors submitted documents to the United States Congress, alleging that Southwest allowed 117 of its aircraft to fly carrying passengers despite the fact that the planes were "not airworthy" according to air safety investigators. In some cases, the planes were allowed to fly for up to 30 months after the inspection deadlines had passed, rendering them unfit to fly. Records indicate that thousands of passengers were flown on aircraft deemed unsafe by federal standards. Clearly, this is an issue tied to social responsibility and ethics at the highest level, ignoring the safety inspections put people 's lives in jeopardy.…

    • 2277 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Groundwork for the metaphysic of Morals, it is formulated that Kant bases his theory of morality off the groundwork of metaphysics. The idea behind the science of metaphysics brings about the a priori and/or pure necessary truths. Any existence of anything empirical is immoral which only abandons one’s reason and intentions, which are the foundation of their duty to gain good will. Good intensions bring out good will. As Kant presents the four reasons of all actions, he believes that one gains the ability to test and evaluate moral actions universally by the categorical imperative.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phil 3033

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kant’s moral theory begins from the starting point of the good will. In assessing the moral worth on an action we must focus not on the consequences of results of the action, but on the agent’s will ( the motivation of conducting an action is really important).…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Having described Kant’s examples of acts done out of duty and desire, I will know discuss the conclusion he makes about moral worth using these examples. Kant makes the conclusion that in order for a person’s actions to have moral worth they must be done without desire.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    One of the most controversial aspects of Kant’s moral philosophy is his theory regarding the concept of duty. Duty is the moral necessity to perform actions for no other reason than to obey the dictates of a higher authority without any selfish inclination. Immanuel Kant states that the only moral motivation is a devotion to duty. The same action can be seen as moral if it is done for the sake of one’s duty but also as not moral (Kant distinguished between immoral and not moral) and simply praise-worthy if it is done out of inclination. Thus, to have moral worth, an action must be done from duty.…

    • 934 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    To act out of respect for the moral law, in Kant’s view, is to be moved to act by moral requirements even when you are not moved by the moral law itself. Morality begins to depreciate when moral acts are done at the convenience of humankind, because the moral self, starts to lose sight of the importance of others, and what is the point of morality if it is not to enrich our own lives by helping…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kant’s moral theory is a form of deontological moral theories. Deontology is regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or permitted, in other words, it guides and assesses human choices. Moral consideration affords to rights and duties. It is around the moral behaviour and act according to rational thought. In Kant’s moral theory, people, as a rational agent with free will, have the obligation to follow the rules of the actual moral law, otherwise, it is irrational behaviour.…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The passage inspected above relates to morality in his work, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant states, that laws of morality are laws that go according to which everything ought to happen. They allow for conditions in which humans naturally tend to make, rather than forcing humans to completely change their behavior. Laws of morality try not to include negative behavior, rather it promotes positive behavior that may come natural to a human being. Mankind is limited by the fact that each individual has a free will and that each individual has the right to act upon that free-will in whatever way they deem proper. Experiences can shape how one person chooses to act from that point forward and how they took that certain situation into…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kant philosophy has contributed in development of "pure" moral philosophy, a "metaphysics of morals" that is based on the concepts of reason, not on empirical observations. According to his philosophy moral obligations are applicable to all human beings as it applies not only for particular person in particular situation, but also to all rational beings in all circumstances.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kant’s moral argument focuses on reason, good will, duty and the notion that we ought to strive towards moral perfection (Summum Bonum). He believes that people are ruled by a ‘moral law’. This moral law for Kant was universal and objective. An example of this might be seen in the wide scale agreement that murder or torture is wrong. There seems to be agreement across cultures that certain actions are intrinsically wrong. This, for Kant, suggests that there is a universal objective moral law. He believed that the highest form of goodness was the notion of good will, namely that someone would freely choose to do good for no reward whatsoever, only for the sake of goodness. Moreover, Kant believed that we have a moral duty to do such good things. He would argue that we have an awareness of what is right and wrong and that good will should make us act accordingly as reason dictates this to be the case. In a way it doesn’t make any rational sense to act in an immoral way.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Phil Kant Paper

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals is not an easy read. Kant’s writing is very dense and he uses a unique vocabulary. I am going to try to explain Kant’s three Propositions, and then show how the third Proposition follows from the first two. It’s hard at a glance to see how they are connected, but I am going to try to clarify the text so we can see it more clearly. We will also look at examples that can help give us a better understanding of the text.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kant's Moral Equation

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Immanuel Kant's moral theory can be best explained by comparing it to a math equation. Kant's moral system will always hold true no matter what the circumstance just like how two plus two will always equal four. According to Kant, our lives should be lived according to maxims that can be willed into universal law (Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, p 303). However the action regarding a moral decision is not judged by the consequences of that action, rather by the motive of that action.…

    • 1431 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the prime components of Kant’s moral behavior is good will. One would be wrong to make assumptions about good will when considering the current popular concept, such as “he is nice”, “she has a good soul”, or “they are good people”. This differs from Kant’s conceptualization of good will, which considers good will as being the quality of a person who takes moral conclusions to be the…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kants Moral Argument

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kant's moral argument can be summarised in 4 points. Point 1, a good will or a person with right moral intentions seeks to bring about the summum bonum. If we take our ethics seriously we can see that we want to achieve the summum bonum. Kant, however was adamant that people should not act nice to receive an award at the end of the act. Kant was convinced that an act is only morally good if it is done for its on sake and without any selfish thoughts. He believed that people should do the right thing because it is the right thing and not for any reward or praise.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Moral Argument

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kant said your moral duty is to do what is right intrinsically moral and good. The wrong thing is to do what is good because it makes you feel good, this feeling of ‘self-satisfaction’ is not necessary.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays