Assignment:Application: A Kantian’s Moral Solution

Assignment: Application: A Kantian's Moral Solution
Have you ever been in a situation in which you knew the right thing to do but were hesitant to do
it because the right actions might bring harm or negative results to you personally? What are you
most likely to do in this situation: what you believe to be the right action or the action that will
produce favorable results?
As you have been learning this week, Kant’s moral theory focuses on the motives of a person’s
actions, not the consequences. According to Kant, even if an act has good results, if you perform
the act with the wrong motive, the "act has no moral worth" (MacKinnon, 2015, p. 71). Central
to Kant’s theory is the concept of the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative states
that moral rules are universal (i.e., in such a way that your behavior could be deemed universally
good for everyone to act in such a way). It also states that all humans should be treated equally
and that no one should be given preference in moral decisions (i.e., that people are treated as
ends in themselves and not means). Lastly, it states that moral obligation warrants acting out of
moral duty only and not for other gains, whether selfish or altruistic. For this Application, you
practice your understanding of Kant’s moral theory by applying its principles to a situation that
you select from several case examples.
Note: You take the perspective of a Kantian/deontologist to complete this assignment even if
your personal perspective does not agree with the Kantian/deontologist perspective.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Review Chapter 5 in the course text, focusing on how Kant’s theory may be applied.
Read the Ethics Case Examples document and select one case to use for this Application.
Write a 2-page paper in which you use the Ethical Analysis Tool to apply Kant’s categorical
imperative to the case example you selected to develop a moral solution.
Support your use of evidence in the assignment with references to the week’s readings. In the
essay, practice APA style for your in-text citations.
Follow guidelines for writing an ethics paper as presented in the course text appendix, “How to
Write an Ethics Paper.”