Mill vs. Kant
Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are philosophers who addressed the issues of morality in terms of how moral traditions are formed. Immanuel Kant has presented one viewpoint in The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals that is founded on his belief that the worth of man is inherent in his ability to reason. John Stuart Mill holds another opinion as presented in the book, Utilitarianism that is seemingly contradictory with the thoughts of Kant. What is most distinctive about the ethics of morality is the idea of responsibilities to particular individuals. According to Kant and Mill, moral obligations are not fundamentally particularistic in this way because they are rooted in universal moral principles. Mill and Kant are both philosophers whom have made great impact on their particular fields of philosophy and a discussion of their theories pitted against each other may help develop a better understanding to them and their theories individually.Mill holds an empiricist theory while Kant holds a rationalist theory. Kant grounds morality in forms that he believes, are necessary to free and rational practical judgment. Mill's utilitarian theory is a form of consequentialism because the rightness or wrongness of a
Kantian theory on morality is stated in terms of his ethics of pure duty. What is the duty that motivates our actions and gives them moral value? Kant distinguishes two kinds of law produced by reason. Kant believes that rational agents are moral agents, that every moral agent has the same ability as any other and therefore must be given consideration and respect. Hence, moral agents cannot be used to reach an end but are ends in themselves. Given some end we wish to achieve, reason provides a hypothetical imperative, or rule of action for achieving that end. A hypothetical imperative says that if you wish to buy a new house, then you must determine what sort of houses are available for purchase. Deriving a means to achieve some desired end is the most common use of reason. People that disagree with utilitarianism may argue that morality is not based on consequences of actions, as utilitarians believe, but is instead based on the foundational and universal concepts of justice and law. Mill sees this as the strongest argument against utilitarianism, and thus sees the concept of justice as a test case for utilitarianism. Therefore, if Mill can explain the concept of justice in terms of utility, then he has addressed the main deontologicalist or non-consequentialist argument against utilitarianism. Mill offers two counter arguments in defense of utilitarianism. Mill first argues that all moral elements in the notion of justice depend on social utility. There are two essential elements in the notion of justice: punishment, and the notion that someone's rights were violated. Punishment is derived from a combination of vengeance and social sympathy. However, vengeance alone has no moral component, and social sympathy is the same as social utility. The notion of the violation of rights is also derived from utility because rights are claims we have on society to protect us, and the only reason society should protect us is because of social utility. Thus, both elements of justice such as punishment and rights are based on utility. Mill's second argument is that if justice were as foundational as non-consequentialists contend it to be, then justice would not be as ambiguous as it is. According to Mill, there are disputes in the notion of justice when examining theories of punishment, fair distribution of wealth, and fair taxation. These disputes can only be resolved by appealing to utility. Mill concludes that justice is a genuine concept, but that we must see it as based on utility. What is distinctive about utilitarianism among consequentialist theories is that it supposes that all intrinsic value is value for someone such as welfare or benefit, and that a person's welfare or benefit consists in how happy they are or how much pleasure they experience. However, to Kant, since happiness may be subjective for each individual, it cannot be measured. Utilitarian moral theories evaluate the moral worth of action based on happiness that is produced by an action. Whatever produces the most happiness in the most people is the moral course of action. Kant's objection to this is that utilitarian theories actually devalue the individuals it is supposed to benefit. He believes that if utilitarian effects are allowed to motivate our actions, we are allowing the value of one person's welfare and interes
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Approximate Word count = 2247
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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