Ethics [Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

"Good morning, class," Anakin said, sweeping into the classroom and taking up his usual position of leaning against his desk at the front. "Today we learn about Immanuel Kant," he began, gesturing to the TAs to hand out information on the man. "He was an influential German philosopher on this planet several hundred years ago who thought every action should have pure intention behind it; otherwise it was meaningless. He did not necessarily believe that the final result was the most important aspect of an action, but that how the person felt while carrying out the action was the time at which value was set to the result."

In his mind, Anakin could hear Obi-Wan nattering on about how many of the truths people cling to depending upon their point of view. He shook his head to clear it and continued. "In other words, it's not the results that make something moral but why you made that decision, and Kant believed that only decisions made purely out of duty have moral worth. For instance, Kant spoke of a shopkeeper who passed up the chance to shortchange a customer only because his business might suffer if other customers found out.  According to Kant, the shopkeeper’s action had no moral worth because he did the right thing for the wrong reason."

He paced the room. "What do you think of Kant's conclusion? Is he being too hard on that shopkeeper? What of people who are in the habit of being good without thinking? Is that being moral, or just being conditioned to interact correctly with society?"

Comments

Re: Answer the discussion questions! [9/27]

[perilless.livejournal.com]

"It seems to me," said Rosella, after a while, having made a determined decision on the matter, "that this Kant fellow is being a bit silly. One almost wonders if perhaps he has experienced someone doing what he thought was a nice gesture for him, only to discover that the motives behind the action had little to do with being nice to Kant, and more to do with something else entirely. I think the shopkeeper was being both kind and sensible, all in one, and that's efficient, if you ask me. Doing good, for whatever reason, is still doing good, and that should certainly count for something."

Re: Answer the discussion questions! [9/27]

[sith_happened]

"I agree," Anakin said, nodding. "The idea that doing good because it comes easily doesn't count as being morally upstanding seems a bit ridiculous to me."