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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 thecategorical 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 Examplesdocument and select one case to use for this Application.

By Day 7

• 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.

o    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.

o    Follow guidelines for writing an ethics paper as presented in the course text appendix, “How to Write an Ethics Paper.”