Kants Categorical Imperative Essay -- Philosophy Categorical Imperati

Kant's Categorical Imperative Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality â€Å"The good will is not good because of what it affects or accomplishes or because of it’s adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it’s willing, i.e., it is good of itself†. A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person’s actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself formulation, and Kingdom of Ends formulation. In this essay, the viablity of the Universal Law formulation is tested by discussing two objections to it, mainly the idea that the moral laws are too absolute and the existence of false positives and false negatives. The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative is defined by Kant to "act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law†. Good moral actions are those of which are motivated by maxims which can be consistently willed that it’s generalized form be a universal law of nature. These maxims are otherwise known as universilizable maxims. Maxims can then be put through the Categorical Imerative test to determine their universilisablility and thus the premissability the maxim. To test a maxim we must ask ourselves whether we can consi... ... Therefore the action of removing all your money from the bank when there is a stock market downturn is immoral according to the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative. The fact that a person cannot withdraw their money from a bank because of moral restraints shows that there are some serious problems with the moral theory at work. The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative â€Å"act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law† seems at face value viable. Nevertheless the lack of guidelines to determine which maxim should be used to describe an action causes problems with the consistency of the Universal Law formulation. Moreover, the abundance of false positives and false negatives suggests a deep problem with the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative that may not be fixable. Works Cited: 1) Feldman, Fred. ‘Kantian Ethics’ in [EBQ] James P Sterba (ed) Ethics: the Big Questions, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, 185-198. 2) Kant, Immanuel. ‘Morality and Rationality’ in [MPS] 410-429. 3) Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy fourth edition. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Food Culture of Bangladesh Essay

Food culture of Bangladesh Bangladesh is rich with various types of foods which enrich our culture and make it familiar among the people of other nations in the world. There are different types of foods in Bangladesh which are totally dissimilar from one another from the side of taste and value. Generally, rice, dal, fish, vegetable and meat are our main dishes and the people of Bangladesh take three meals in a day. In the morning, we take breakfast where the urban people take ruti, porota, biscuit, vegetable, chicken, tea etc. and the rural people take muri, khoi, pitha or stale rice with chilly. In lunch, the people of different range take different foods according to their own choice and demand. Most of the people take rice, dal, vegetable and fish in their lunch. There’s a common saying: â€Å"Fish and rice make a Bengali.† At the time of cooking our cook uses different types of spices like garlic, peppers, turmeric, onion, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, or mustard seed etc. that make our foods more tasty. In our daily meals we generally take mixed vegetables, fish bhuna, fried okra, Bhorta, fried eggplant, chicken curry, lentils, Egg curry, beef, mutton etc. with rice. Again in our snacks we normally take Paratha, Samosa, Singara, puri, fried roti stuffed with eggs, Naan, Pitha (vapa, puli, patishapta,dudhpitha, telpitha, chitoi pitha etc. ), Mishti Doi, Ras Malai etc. After taking our meals we usually drink tea, milk etc. We also take various types of fruits in our leisure time; mango, jack fruits, banana, pine apple, orange, apple, guava, water melon, coconut and other seasonal fruits are taken according to the season and choice.

Alzheimer s Disease A Progressive, Irreversible, Fatal...

Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that attacks the brain and results in impaired memory, thinking and behavior (Internet). It is a degenerative disease affecting nerve cells of the frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebrum of the brain. The disease is the major cause of presenile dementia (i.e., the loss of mental faculties not associated with advanced age) and is thought to be the largest single cause of senile dementia as well (Britannica, 306). It causes the connections between cells to become ineffective and the cells themselves to shutdown and eventually die (Davies, 1). Alzheimer’s is a progressive, irreversible, fatal neurologic disorder that affects an estimated 4 million American adults. It is estimated by 2040,approximately 14 million Americans will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Approximately 9% of the population older than 55 years and 20% of those older than 85 years have Alzheimer’s Disease. The duration of AD averages 2 to 10 years but can be up to 20 years. By 1992, Alzheimer’s Disease was the fourth leading cause of death among adults (more than 100,000 American deaths per year). It is projected that the number of people with Alzheimer’s Disease will triple in the next 50 years. This epidemic of dementia is not confined to sex, race, social, or economic class. The public knows this disorder as â€Å"senility†, although the term Alzheimer’s is becoming more common (Rosdahl, 1356). According to a quote from