Kantianism
Jose works as a mechanic at a Honda dealership. His garage is closed on Sundays and at the end of his shift on Saturday he “borrows” a Honda scanner that checks service codes. On Sunday, he uses the scanner while performing a job for a friend of a friend. He gets to work early on Monday and returns the scanner before anyone else arrives. The scanner isn’t damaged at all. Fully explain and apply Kantianism to this particular situation. Was it OK for Jose to steal and return the scanner? Describe how Kantian ethics works in general and address factors that would be important according to this view. Do you think Jose behaved morally? Justify your own view.
Sample Solution
Kantian ethics are a set of universal moral principles that apply to all human beings, regardless of context or situation. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, calls the principles Categorical Imperatives, which are defined by their morality and level of freedom. Kant`s moral philosophy is a deontological normative theory, which is to say he rejects the utilitarian idea that the rightness of an action is a function of how fruitful its outcome is. He says the motive (or means), and not consequence (or end), of an action determines its moral value. To live ethically, one must never treat another human being as a means to some greater end. Human beings, by virtue of their unique ability to reason, are different from other forms of physical existence.
