Strengths and weaknesses Flashcards
How is Kant being universal a strength?
It provides moral laws that are applicable regardless of culture and individual situation. This will help save time when making a moral decision as compared to other ethical theories, such as Bentham’s utilitarianism, there is no need to apply each situation to a complex set of requirements.
How is Kant’s 2nd prong of the 3 pronged test a strength?
Treat people as ends not means
This shows how Kant cares for the welfare of people and can be contrasted with Bentham’s utilitarianism which focuses on using the hedonic calculus and leaves out the minority. This does not value humans, whereas Kant does.
How does Kant’s theory being secular and religious present a strength?
Non-religious believers would want to live in a society where rules benefit people and do not contradict themselves. This can be seen by truth being a valued virtue within society.
In addition, the 2nd prong fits with the Golden Rule and the postulate of God shows that in order to receive our reward for autonomous reality we need an all powerful, all loving being.
How is the 3 pronged test flawed?
Universalisation does not work with the majority of principles. Kant only used a small number of cases including charity.
How is the involvement of reason flawed?
Kant assumes that all people are autonomous. Is this really the case. Can a child be classed as being fully autonomous. For Mary Anne Warren a person had to be rational. She disputed a foetus being a person on this principle.
How is Kant being ‘cold’ a weakness?
He ignores love and compassion. For Fletcher (Situation Ethics) this is un-pragmatic as he said it was impossible to act free from emotion.
How are Kant’s assumptions a weakness of the theory?
Kant said that moral law and the summum bonum were self-evident and didn’t need to be proved - they just exist. However, these core principles have no evidence and therefore the theory is weakened.
