PHIL Paper 3
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Lone Star College System, Woodlands *
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1301
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Philosophy
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by GeneralDangerBuffalo20
Ethical Theory
AbbySue Campbell
Prof. Tran-Hoang
Phil 1301
May 4, 2022
Ethical Theory
An analysis of three significant ethical theories will lead me to my opinion on which is
the most promising for modern society to embrace. My analysis will look at each theory’s
reaction to a specific scenario. The scenario is
Autopia is the world’s leading self-driving
technology firm. The technology used by Autopia's self-driving cars is the safest, but
some accidents can't be prevented. As an example, there will be situations where an
Autopia car has to choose between running over one individual or ten individuals.
Imagine that you were the head of the philosophy department at Autopia. Furthermore,
suppose you were asked to provide feedback on Autopia's software engineers on how cars
should respond in situations like the one you just described. First, I will look at the
Utilitarian view. Next, I will look at the Kantian theory. Then I will review Aristotle’s
Virtue ethics. Lastly, I will review the notion of a combination of all three theories.
Utilitarianism is essentially doing what will cause the most pleasure or happiness in the
situation. The idea is that the outcome of an action determines whether the action is moral
or not. Knowing this the Autopia car would veer towards the single man rather than the
group of ten people. Utilitarianism would dictate that the most happiness created is the
moral choice because only one man would die in the scenario rather than ten. This theory
is extremely cut and dry. There is no wiggle room to make decisions about the quality of
Ethical Theory
the people involved. I am not a fan of utilitarianism. There are exceptions to every
situation and utilitarianism waits to decide if what one does is ethical by waiting for the
outcome. Even John Stuart Mill assesses that happiness cannot be fully experienced
without the understanding of disappointment and despair (792). He explains this in the
quote, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool or pig are of a different opinion,
it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the
comparison knows both sides.” (792).
Kantian Theory is very clear on how to proceed in the Autopia scenario. Do nothing and
let autopilot car careen into the group of ten people. Kant advocates not sacrificing one
life to save another. The categorical imperative says that intentions are an important
aspect of deciding to do something. Kantian Theory disregards consequences as
meaningless when assessing morality. Because of this, Kant believes you should only be
held accountable for the outcomes of your actions, not the consequences of them. It is
necessary to have a morally righteous will for one to be regarded as good will. Insofar as
one has a good will, virtue, success, fortune, and happiness can be deemed desirable or
even desirable. A good character is valuable by itself. Doing good is worthwhile as a goal
in and of itself. To quote Kant, “It is necessary to have a morally righteous will for one to
be regarded as good will. Insofar as one has a good will, virtue, success, fortune, and
happiness can be deemed desirable or even desirable. A good character is valuable by
itself. Doing good is worthwhile as a goal in and of itself.” (116).
Applying Aristotle’s Virtue Theory to the Autopia scenario would involve how the
individual is developing the best person they can be in multiple ideals of their life. These
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