Utilitarian And Kantian Philosophical Analysis

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I will be discussing the second suggested paper topic. Where the utilitarian and kantian philosophical ideologies will be applied to the issue of a town blacksmith killing a person in a bar fight, and the presiding judge over the case dictating the rule “a life for a life”. The life being chosen is the older of the town’s two bakers, on the premise that killing the blacksmith would affect the town’s welfare adversely. From this topic both Utilitarian and Kantian Moral Theories will be applied in response. To begin one may say that a Utilitarian would not support such an action, because the blacksmith has killed a person and is a detriment to society. Allowing him to live with such actions would cause more disutility to the town. The older …show more content…
The actions that produce disutility are such: the possibility of those close to the deceased (person in the bar and baker) following their attached action with sensations of the same kind, the adversely affected social welfare from the death of the younger baker or older baker, and the baker or blacksmith. Now the responses that produce utility are such: allowing the younger baker to live, and the blacksmith to live. Now comparing X (disutility) and Y (utility) the actions that produce utility outweigh that of those that which produce disutility, because of the Principle of Utility which states that “An act is morally right in proportion as it tends to secure the greatest utility for the greatest number”. The actions that produce utility provide the greatest amount of pleasure to the highest population. So a Utilitarian would respond that the judge’s actions are moral, and it would be immoral to kill the …show more content…
It violates all requirements of the categorical imperative. The maxim being followed would be immoral, and rational beings are treated as means to an end.
Firstly, the maxim of which the Judge based the decision is immoral. Looking at the principle of “a life for a life” . Can it be argued as a law of nature? Justifiably no, it cannot. The policy of action is a human construction. Such a law cannot be created in nature to make one action fair to another. In nature killing another being -whether justified or not- would not be met by a reciprocal exchange of life. For example, if a grizzly bear decided to kill another bear, the life of the bear or any other bear would not be sacrificed in response to this action.
One may argue that the blacksmith killing another person is a natural law. It depends on however the situation of the killing. It seems to be universally accepted that one can kill another in defense of oneself. It was not mentioned though that this was in defense, so that would be a failure of this
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