Sir W. D. Ross

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Sir W.D. Ross uses his beliefs in “What Makes Right Acts Right?” to convey that monism is false. The theory of monism states “what makes actions right is that they are productive of more good than could have been produced by any other action open to the agent.” (Ross, 1930, p.17) According to Ross, monism is false because there are many things that make an action right and there are many things that are good. In this paper, I will show that monism is false using different scenarios from Ross. I will begin by using Ross’s belief that “I have promised” should not be the only reason an action is right. (Ross, 1930, p.18) The first section will be based on Immanuel Kant’s belief that it is always wrong to lie and Ross’s belief that in certain situations, it is alright to lie. My second section will cover that there are objections to the view that the right action produces the most good. (Ross, 1930, p.18) …show more content…
But, Ross says that in certain situations, you should lie. Ross uses the scenario where your friend runs upstairs to hide and a murderer comes to your door looking for your friend. If the murderer asks if you have seen your friend, should you tell the truth or lie? (Ross, 1930, p.19) According to Kant, who is an axiological and deontological monist, says you should tell him that your friend is upstairs because you must tell the truth and never lie. To this, Ross says of course you should lie because we do not have the duty of telling the truth. (Ross, 1930, p.19) In this situation, Ross believes you should lie because it would do better good to lie, then to let the murderer go find your friend and harm him. It would produce better good to lie in this situation than to tell the truth, which is what Kant would
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