Although both sides expressed interesting and developed arguments, I think that the group that opposed the idea of side hoes had a stronger argument in this particular case. Kantianism, stating that an act is moral if it does not involve using someone as solely a means to an end, and if it can be made into a universal law, applied to this situation, was most compelling. The act of having a side hoe has very clear ethical violations under Kantianism. The argument could be made that the person who has a side hoe is using said side hoe as simply a means to attain temporary pleasure. This argument is strengthened by the fact that the existence of the side hoe is kept secret (from the partner and presumably form most people in the main hoe’s life). …show more content…
Perhaps, the main hoe wants to maintain a certain image, and that image involves being in a stable relationship. In this situation, the innocent significant other is only used as a tool to help the main hoe achieve the outward validation he or she wants (since the relationship itself is not the “end” for the main hoe). As for the pro-side hoe argument that used the Theory of Utilitarianism to argue that the existence of side-hoes is moral, there appeared to be some logical flaws. The main argument, that the existence of the side hoe increased the overall happiness of all involved may not have been valid. The conclusion that, “overall happiness was maximized” did not necessarily follow from the premises that the innocent significant other was kept in the dark, and that the main hoe and his side hoe were happy together. While the innocent significant other may have been in the dark in regards to the specific details of the situation, who is to say that the significant other is not experiencing the residual effects of