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Mill's Categorical Imperative Theory Analysis

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When a person passes away and leaves behind a will, usually everything goes according to the original plan set by the deceased. There could be tension between loved ones over what is being left behind, but a written will establishes who receives what and how much. The dilemma revolving around Ms. Smith 's previous and later will is interesting. The lawyer is left with a tough decision and if they act accordingly to either Kant 's categorical imperative theory or Mill 's utilitarian theory the results will be drastically different either for one person or potentially millions. However, after analyzing, applying and discussing both theories to this situation, the lawyer should find some common middle ground since both of these theories are difficult to agree with as being superior to one another. According to Kant 's categorical imperative theory, the lawyer must proceed with the later will and not the earlier one. This would …show more content…

Although somewhat leaning towards Kant 's categorical imperative theory, it is still poor for this situation to consider it superior to Mill 's utilitarian theory. Only one person will benefit from the fortune while many will suffer. However, this lawyer has two wills and they could just explain to the niece that her aunt had a previous will going to a famine relief fund. There could be a possibility that the niece in honour to her aunt 's previous wishes or her own personal character could donate a portion of the fortune to the relief fund. This would tie in with Kant 's theory because it would respect the niece 's autonomy and rationality which acknowledges her values and beliefs. Plus, in accordance with Mill 's theory, it will also slightly increase happiness in the people affected by the famine. All parties would benefit if both of these theories were considered. The lawyer would still retain their job and reputation, the niece 's rationality would be respected and the people affected by famine will be more fortunate than if

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Financial power is alluring in more that one way; ignorance and love - the two extremes, in this case it caused the suitcase lady to loose the only person she had. It is up to others to change the perspective of people in need, rather than listening to what society says. This is seen in both Of Mice and Men with Curly’s wife and Candy and in the “Suitcase Lady”. To get power, people take it from others, this creates

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The Hinton’s were not the only family which received some of Beeler Fletcher’s benevolence that January, on the 26th of the month she helped another family in distress. The husband of the family was sick and hadn’t worked for months and the wife had just had twins two weeks prior to Beeler Fletcher assisting them. These cases show that Beeler Fletcher looked into situations before she decided to help. She wanted her money to be well spent and her time not to be wasted, much like many philanthropists at the

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Although they could not provide him with a lawyer they did support him by providing him with vital counseling and advice that could help his

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Poverty also led the Lacks 's family to injustice for them and their mother 's cells because they simply couldn 't afford a lawyer. The book says, "So in attempt to get Hopkins to give them what they saw as their cut of the HeLa profits they made handouts about Henrietta Lack 's family being owed their due, and gave them to customers at Lawrence 's store". This illustrates that although Lawrence and Sonny couldn 't afford a lawyer, the next best thing was to spread the word, and also shows how they just had to make do with what they had. Rebecca Skloot shows how poverty was a major problem for the Lacks 's family in, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". Ranging from medical problems to being an easy target to having injustice.

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The way that Walter Lee wanted to use the money was very selfish abut the motive/ purpose behind it is very reasonable. The outcome of this situation than Walter Lee picked is very attractive because the outcome would be a lot more money but in the same side it was very risky and very dangerous. Walter Lee wanted the money so he could open a liquor store with or like his friends. He only wanted to invest in that kind of business because he thought he could get rich off of a liquor store. Mama was strictly against it and wanted to do something that would benefit all and not just Walter Lee.

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There can be no doubt that people should be morally free to live their own lives and pursue and develop their own interests, to a certain degree at the very least. This necessitates then that a person is morally permitted to dedicate one’s time, energy, and money to activities that don’t directly have an impact on famine relief or similar worthy causes. For example, it could frequently happen and has happened whereby certain pursuits and recreations have beneficial and favourable outcomes and consequences that could not have been foreseen. My argument lies with the issue that if people are not free to follow their intellectual interests when it is not obvious what positive impact they might have, or whether they would have any positive repercussions at all, humanity in general could be worse off than we actually are. This is tied to Singer’s argument if people are obligated to do as much as they possibly can, to aid famine relief, they would have to give up many of their own special projects and interests in order to do so.

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Another prime example generosity causing good is Elizabeth Lavenza, the orphan child taken in by the Frankenstein family As Victor is telling his story to Robert, he talks about how the family adopted Elizabeth, saying “She found a peasant and his wife, hardworking, bent down by care and labour, distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these was one which attracted my mother far above the rest… They consulted the village priest and the result was that Elizabeth Lavensa became the inmate of my parents’ house – my more than sister – the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures” (20-21). He then later talks about how she was a light to the family, and after Caroline’s death, keeping the family together.

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There are many good people in life, but the grandmother was not one of those. She was manipulative, selfish, and fake. People paying for someone else’s mistakes isn’t good. Her being manipulative and selfish cost her life and her whole families lives. Throughout this whole story there is neither a good man nor a good

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Despite this decision to support her family, she was actually making selfish decisions when she was deciding on a job because she chose jobs that didn't make her seem lower in society as her “ intellectual pride kept me from selecting typing” (Angelou 80) even though it would have been a job that could have benefited both her and her mother. Another example of this occurring is in Everyday Use where her mother was going to give the quilts to her other daughter but “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts”(Walker 58) when Dee received the news she wouldn't be getting the quilts for herself. Both of these example show that children will mainly make selfish decisions while that one percent may make selfless decisions while the other 99 percent makes selfish decisions

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This scenario is relatable to the story of Robin Hood, a man who takes from the advantaged, and gives to the disadvantaged. Some would argue that what Robin Hood does is bad, and some would argue that it is good. This leaves a pondering question, is Robin Hood a good person doing bad things, or a bad person doing good things.

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Therefore, in this story, there is a conflict of interest. On the one hand, Aunty truthfully believes in her work, and she does it in a spiritually way and in communion

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Therefore, through Claire’s desire of justice, she effectively buys justice on the basis of disability, helplessness and greed for money for the citizens of

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As the author mentioned, this dilemma puts Mill’s Utilitarianism against Kant’s Formalism. Utilitarianism is satisfied as the sacrifice of the life of one person to save the lives of five others produces the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, and would occur in both cases. On the other hand, Kant’s Duty-Based Ethics expresses that “each person’s conscience imposes an absolute categorical imperative on the person to follow those courses of action that would be acceptable as universal principles for everyone. Kant emphasized that it was the intention to do one’s duty that was significant, not the actual results or consequences. Thus, Kant’s theory rejects taking any life and would simply let the train continue on it’s meant course of action.

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Immanuel Kant and John Samuel Mill have various similarities and differences on how we see the world. Where both will have, different ideologies referring to the cases of rescue I and rescue II. Kant and Mill are similar in multiple ways where both recognize the moral rules where Kant calls them duties and Mill calls them subordinate principles. Both have the subordinate principles where not to lie, no to stealing, and deprive from liberty from others. Appealing the consequences of the derived duties, where Kant considers the consequence of Maxim to become a universal law of nature, Mill considers the consequence of kind action.

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Moral theories are theories that help us distinguish between a right or a wrong action. Adequate moral theories help us understand that what we should or shouldn’t do in certain situations. Two of the most famous moral theories are Utilitarianism and Kantianism. According to Utilitarianism, an action is right if only if it out of all the other action gives out the maximum utility. In oppose to that, Kantianism says that an action is right if and only if, in performing that action, the person does not treat anyone as a mean and treats everyone as an end in itself.

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