Morals, Utilitarianism, Social - Essay Example

His nine year old adopted daughter is not bleeding but she has is slowly passing out and is complaining that she is feeling dizzy, cannot breath properly and her vision is hazy. The ambulance arrives and can only competently attend to one patient, take her to the nearest hospital, which is 20 kilometers away, and come for the other victim. If they take his seven year old daughter, it is relative his nine year old daughter will make it that long. His seven-year-old daughter is his real daughter and there is that risk that she might pass out if they take his nine-year-old daughter first.

He is torn between which is a lesser wrong; letting his adopted daughter who is at the verge of becoming vegetative be left behind, or his seven year old daughter who is bleeding profusely. Utilitarian theories are based on utility, which is aimed at generating excellent results. These theories intend to maximize the good in every situation by selecting the best possible alternative, while curtailing the negative alternatives to an event. Utilitarian theory associate a good act with happiness and a bad act with sadness, and use this to determine if an action to be performed is morally right or morally wrong.

If the net effect will lead to happiness, then it is morally right but if it will lead to sadness, then it is morally wrong (Hull 1-10). . Utilitarian theory calls for you to always put the interest of others first before your own personal interest. The ultimate positive goal like honesty, chastity, charity outweighs all the risks and shortcomings of procuring the activity. This means there is a standard in which each activity is performed to elicit the same results over a period of time (Hull 1-10).

Kant’s deontology theory asserts that every divine being has the duty to do what is right at all times. Unlike other theories, this theory does not prescribe a formula that needs to be followed but rather provides tests that have to be performed when evaluating the conduct as pertains to a morally significant situation. This theory asserts that good will is intrinsically good hence every individual should be compelled to do good at all times. Whether doing well causes sadness to some people and happiness to others, this call for a duty to do good at all times.

Consequently, Kant’s theory states that through habitual performance of what is right, it translates to good will and one does not feel compelled to do it. The good will comes automatically (Hull 1-10). Kant’s deontology theory asserts that the consequences of an action do not determine its being right or wrong. This determination is made by the motive and the intentions that are compelling the individual to do the act. Kant’s theory confers that for an action to be morally sound; it has to be on principle not on impulse.

The latter does not justify it to be a morally right action since it is majorly done because of sympathy, which might not be standard for every individual. However, the former is standard for every individual and hence qualifies an act done out of principle (ethics) to be morally right (Hull 1-10). Applying the component