Categorical imperative vs utilitarianism

When people approach a religious text or any large book from which they intend to derive ethical teachings, nearly without exception the person will pick up the book and pay very particular attention to all the morals they already agree with.

Other Relevant Books, Articles, and Resources 1. Biography Sir William David Ross was born in Thurso, a small industrial, fishing, and tourist community in the county of Caithness on the northern coast of Scotland.

He was the son of John Categorical imperative vs utilitarianism, an eminent teacher and school administrator. He attended college at the University of Edinburgh and in graduated with first-class honors in classical studies. He continued his education at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in with firsts in classics and humanities.

In he was offered a lectureship at Oriel College, Oxford. In he married the former Edith Helen Ogden d. Ross remained at Oxford for nearly fifty years, serving on the faculty and in various administrative positions, including Provost of Oriel College from to and Vice-Chancellor of the University from to In the course of his distinguished academic career Ross achieved international recognition Categorical imperative vs utilitarianism acclaim for his contributions to ethical theory and classical studies.

In addition to studies of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant, he also published two important and highly influential works of moral philosophy: The Right and the Good and Foundations of Ethics One of his foremost academic accomplishments was his editorship of the Oxford English translations of the complete works of Aristotle, a production of 11 volumesto which he himself contributed well received and still widely used translations of the Metaphysics and the Nichomachean Ethics.

In Ross served as President of the Aristotelian Society, the London-based organization founded in and dedicated to the promotion of philosophy as an intrinsically rewarding, life-enhancing communal enterprise.

In addition to his academic work, Ross also compiled a notable record of public service and civil administration. In he joined the British army and served in the Ministry of Munitions, rising to the rank of major and the position of Deputy Secretary. After the war he was awarded the OBE, and inin further recognition of his military accomplishments, he was officially knighted.

After his retirement from academic and public life, Ross continued his lifelong study of philosophy. He died at Oxford on May 5, In effect, Ross sees Plato here articulating and attempting to come to grips with two major objections to his theory.

It is claimed, for example, that if a man is a man by virtue of his sharing or imitating the Form of Man, there must also be another Form of Man that both the man and the Form of Man share, and so on ad infinitum.

At some level, and to at least a minimal extent, Forms must stand in some type of relation with the particulars that exemplify them.

Informed Consent: An Ethical Principle	If Kant is correct that moral absolutes cannot be violated, then he prevents any loopholes, self-serving exceptions, and personal biases in the determination of our duties.
Related Religious Studies & Philosophy documents	The underlying problem extends to negative effects on the individual intelligence of believers, and a related negative effect on educational achievements.

Ideal Redness, that is to say, has to share at least some definable relationship with apples, cherries, fire trucks, and other actual red things.

Unfortunately, as Ross points out, Plato is seldom clear or consistent in describing the exact nature of this relationship.

In the early dialogues, for instance, he seems to view the Ideas as immanent attributes or qualities that is, as universal properties present within and manifested through sensible things.

According to Ross, what makes this issue especially problematic is that even in the later dialogues Plato frequently reverts to the language of immanence. Ross speculates that this is probably because Plato himself never reached a definitive view of the matter and thus found it convenient to use the language of immanence in some cases as, for example, when he suggests that a particular may exemplify or partake of a universal property and the language of transcendence in others as when he describes a particular as being an imperfect copy or imitation of a paradigmatic Form.

According to Ross, even though Plato is vague and inconsistent on the exact relationship of the Ideas to the objects of sense, he is clear and emphatic on two other important points: In the end, Ross winds up in the camp of critics who view Plato as ultimately closer to the metaphysics and ontology of Aristotle according to whom Ideas and particulars are deeply intertwined and practically inseparable than to the view of Plotinus who viewed the realm of being as a grand hierarchy, emanating from and ultimately surmounted and transcended by an indefinable, absolute, ideal reality, The One.

Ross and Aristotle Even if he had never published The Right and the Good and become one of the leading figures of the analytic school and an important name in twentieth-century moral philosophy, Ross would still have gained lasting renown as a classics scholar.

Indeed, during his lifetime, he earned as much acclaim for his accomplishments as the general editor of the volume eventually volume Oxford translation of the complete works of Aristotle as he did as for his innovative and provocative work in ethics.Utilitarianism and the Categorical Imperative While both Mill’s consequentialist Principle of Utility and Kant’s deontological Categorical Imperative seem both to have ethical import, the applicability of each depends on the situation to which they are applied.

Explain with examples, Kant's theory of the Categorical Imperative Kant believed that there is an 'objective moral law' this meant, he did not depend on a point of view.

If there is a moral law there is a duty to obey this law. To act morally, it is necessary to have a good will for example to help someone just because it would be the right thing to do in . The categorical imperative (German: kategorischer Imperativ) is the central philosophical concept in the deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant.

Introduced in Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, it may be defined as a way of evaluating motivations for action.

The Paternalistic Medical Model Under Challenge

William David Ross (—) Sir William David Ross was a British philosopher, college administrator, WW I veteran, civil servant, and humanities scholar best known for his important contributions to moral philosophy and the study of classical literature.

In the field of classical studies, in addition to shorter works on Plato and Aristotle, his major triumph was his editorship of the. Conclusion. Society's attitudes to specific areas of crime demonstrate that we have a collective morality, more diverging than converging to any conclusion.

Following a televised debate with Neal Halsey, M.D. on mandatory vaccination on NBC’s “The Today Show” in March , National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher was invited to make a presentation at the May 2, meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services, on voluntary, informed consent .