What would a Kantian say about the movie?
Kantian Ethics or Kant’s Duty Ethics is based upon reasoning. The idea is that rules that are logically consistent and universalizable are morally correct. Logical consistency is the ability of the rule to not contradict itself. Universalizability or general applicability is the ability to be applied to everything without exceptions. To understand what a Kantian would say about this movie, it is important to understand where the movie stands in terms of all the tenets of Kantian Ethics.
Firstly, the most important part of Kantian Ethics, the Categorical Imperative, must be discussed. The Categorical Imperative says that an act will be considered immoral if the rule that can be made for it cannot be
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Another example can be seen in the prisoners of the Pre-Crime system. If any of the officers of Pre-Crime saw themselves being in the same situation as the prisoners, they would start to question the validity of the system. This is exactly what John Anderton did. As soon as he saw his future, he ran. If he had full faith in the morality of the system, he would have stayed and given himself in. However, he felt like being imprisoned without committing any crime was unjustifiable and unfair to himself. So, he ran. This shows that the rule in the movie was not, in fact, morally universalizable. As can be seen, so many parts of this movie that can be seen as universalizable are only universalizable due to chance, wording, or blind faith. If one were to apply the act to themselves, they would find that it is not morally universalizable. In other words, it is an ethical …show more content…
There are three main theories of punishment: retributive, utilitarian, and restitution. Firstly, retributive or the just deserts punishment theory must be examined again. Under retributive or just deserts punishment, a person is judged only on what he or she has done. Under this theory, the Pre-Crime system is immoral because how can a person be punished for something he or she has never done. The Pre-Crime system punishes based on thought, impulse, and planning regardless of whether or not the act was actually committed. It is illogical to find people guilty when no action is committed. If such a system was adopted, everyone would be guilty of some crime or another. After all, thought is the truest and freest form of expression. Everyone will have at least one harmful thought they have entertained about others. It is natural. However, under Pre-Crime, they are doing a legal wrong. Then, everyone in society should be imprisoned and if so, what is left of society? So, under retributive punishment, it is