Moral Action In Groundhog Day

What would you do if tomorrow never arrives? In the movie Groundhog Day, weatherman Phil Connors faced question. He was forced to relive the same day over and over again, and he needed to decide on what to do with this repeating day. If there is no tomorrow, it is true that “we could do whatever we wanted” since “there would be no consequences”, as claimed by the two drunken men in the movie. However, we should also ask ourselves what should be the right things to do. In Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, philosopher Immanuel Kant discussed this question by explaining the aspects that contributes to a moral action. Based on the implications of what contributes to a moral action through the movie and Kant’s work, I formed my view that

One’s action are moral if they accord the idea of categorical imperative. Categorical Imperative focuses on “the form and principle” of an action, not “what is to result” from it (Kant 20). To clarify, and action’s morality is based on why one did it, not its consequences since one has no control over it. In the movie Phil tried to help an old man every day, but the old man still died when the day ends (Groundhog Day). Despite the unpleasant result, Phil acted ethically because for Kant, he acted with good intentions. He wanted to help people regardless of the result. For me, I would always consider doing whatever that gives good consequences, such as cheering up my friend. However, if it is for bad intentions, like I cheer up my friend to let them do things in my favor, it is immoral. On the other hand, if I do something for the right reasons, such as I tried to helped my friend to fix the car because I wanted to help, but the problem was not resolved at the end, my action would still be moral because although the result is bad, it started with a good reason. It is important for one to act with good intentions since one may “lives according to duty, but not from duty” because one might be acting for “a selfish purpose” (Kant 8). In other words, one’s actions may seem moral because they seem to follow one’s duty, but in reality it is not since it is for self-interests. For instance, if I know that I can escape the time loop by helping others, I would help people like how Phil helps the town people, but for the purpose of breaking the time loop, hence my actions are immoral, seeing that I am just trying to fulfill my self-interest. On the whole, I should always act with a right reason when being forced to relive the same day, because they are what determines the morality of my