Friday, September 25, 2015
Kant or Kan
So Kant was a big thinker during the enlightenment period, and he believed that the motive of duty was irrelevant in determining the good will of an action. As Dr.J explained in class, you would still be helping the old lady just not for the right reasons, and that's fine. However, what happens when its you do a good deed, but you end up hurting someone in the end? I mean with the old lady and the money, she just loses money and its okay cause apparently she was a rich widow. She has no body to support and she willingly gave it to you. Yet, what about Robin Hood? He gave back to the poor, but stole from the rich. I mean, the good will was there, the motive was there, but it was still stealing. However, to Robin Hood he felt it was his duty to give back to the poor, and that it was also the riches punishment because they were rich and selfish. However, does that make it ok? Is it ok to do bad things to help good people? I believe that Robin Hood is also a good example of an immoral person being irrational because his subjective and objective principles are opposing. His subjective principle is that its his duty to steal money from the rich to give to the poor even though rational person would automatically think, "No I can' t do this, its still wrong." It goes with the whole, two wrongs don't make a right. However, who would be the better person, Robin Hood, the stealer from greedy selfish mean people, or the guy that intentionally helped an old lady across the street knowing he'd get half a million dollars. Then again, it should be addressed that implying they were his intentions adds certain emotions into it and distracts from the question itself of whether it is still good will.
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Looking at Kant's definition of duty and morality, the person helping the old lady for money is actually doing a duty. The old lady has to cross the street, even if she has to bribe the youngins (lol). Her kids or grandkids probably do the same thing. It doesn't seem right but I look a it this way: Most rich people and business tycoons donate, even average people, to get tax cuts and to show off or make themselves feel better. Most (nearly all) doctors dont become doctors to help people, they do it for the money and mere interest (it seems). Doing a duty doesnt always mean doing it out of our heart, even though I believe thats how it should be. The truth is most people do their duty for something in return. If you help old ladies accross the street all the time and get nothing in return, and start to be late for work or class, eventually youre going to avoid old ladies at the street; not because youre mean, but because in the end you end up losing something (money time etc) If police didnt get paid, there would be a LOT less of them. The same for doctors, teachers, military, etc. In Robin Hood's case, he is fulfilling his duty, but in an immoral and irrational way. He could have done many things to help the poor.
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