Kantian Ethics and Utilitarianism

Kantian ethics is Kant’s view that human beings are defined by rationality and autonomy. He says you never use yourself or someone else simply as a means. Kant feels that forcing someone to do something is an example of this. Another example would be suicide and drug addiction because it undermines your rationality and autonomy. Utilitarianism promotes the idea of doing whatever gives the most amount of pleasure and the least amount of pain. They want to maximize happiness as much as possible even if it makes them like an animal.

            In my view, Kant’s view is a more plausible way for human beings to live than the Utilitarian view. Kant believes in doing what is right and not what simply makes us feel good. Those can be two completely different things. There are a lot of things that make us feel good that are no good for us such as too much alcohol, being unfaithful to a spouse, or drugs just to name a few. No matter what your view is, Kantian ethics leads a person down a road of self-perfection and promoting the happiness of other people. That is a good road to be on even if you can never achieve perfection. There are more examples throughout history of peopke using Kant’s view and they are considered great human beings.

            To use the Barbara example, all acts that are unethical are wrong. All cheating is unethical. All cheating is wrong.