The movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors” demonstrates a good variety of moral views. Judah, the main character, is an ophthalmologist who finds himself in a dilemma where he has been cheating on his wife with a younger woman, Dolores. Dolores wants Judah all to herself and insists on telling Judah’s wife, but Judah wants to preserve his marriage. Dolores finds out about some of Judah’s unethical business transacts and threatens to expose him if he doesn’t conform to her wishes.
Judah informs two people of his situation, Ben and Jack. Ben, being a rabbi, believes the world is loving and just. He believes that life has meaning and that God will be the ultimate judge; so act in a way that would please God. Evidently Ben thinks Judah should tell his wife the truth and hope for the best outcome for the situation. On the other hand Jack, Judah’s perilous brother, believes that the only viable solution is to hire someone to kill Dolores to prevent her from talking. Learning this we can depict the moral view of Jack that thinks the world is a cold and harsh place where everyone must fend for themselves. Realizing this it is obvious that Jack tends to self-preservation. Judah doesn’t think he could live with
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The moral view that seems to be represented by Ben is one similar to Kant. Ben believes that Judah should do the right thing by telling the truth regardless of the consequence; confessing would pass both formulations of Kant’s categorical imperative. In contrast, the view of morality that Judah demonstrates is one of a consequentialist, a morally right action is determined strictly by its consequences. Jack also represents the moral view of a consequentialist, which I figure this the underlying reason for why Judah ultimately chose to have Dolores murdered. The only difference between Jack and Judah is that Jack has more experience in the area of crime and is able to clear his