Situation When Doing Good is Wrong Essay

Tags: moral philosophy business ethics duty acting consequences metaphysics egoism aristotle

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 679 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

Page 1 of 2

ACTING OUT OF A SENSE OF ONE’S DUTY CAN BE WRONG 3

Acting Out of a Sense of One’s Duty Can Be Wrong

An example to illustrate how one can be acting out of duty and they end up causing more harm than if they had not done anything is in assisting accident victims. When an accident occurs, people will rush and they will attempt to assist the injured persons, however, there are situations where the good samaritan assisting the injured could cause more harm than if they had left the victims and waited for paramedics or firefighters. If an accident victim is pulled or moved from the car without proper care being taken, it could result in the victim suffering more and increasing their injuries. Although the act of kindness being shown by assisting the victim is out of duty the victim could become paralyzed, suffer severe bleeding, or aggravate spinal injuries.

Looking at Kant’s moral philosophy, assisting the accident victim would be done out of duty and not gain anything in return. Therefore, the person assisting the accident victim would be doing what they consider to be morally right (Köllen, 2016). However, since they do not have the proper training on how best to handle such a situation, they might end up hurting the victim further.

Stuck Writing Your "Situation When Doing Good is Wrong" Essay?

View All Our Example Situation When Doing Good is Wrong Essay

Have A Custom Example Essay Written



The motivation of the act is what determines if the individual is acting from duty or in accordance with duty. The individual helping an injured person is doing this from duty. This is because they are not inclined to do so and they do not gain any pleasure from assisting the victim. However, if the individual is assisting the individual so that they can be considered to be a hero then they are doing it in accordance with duty. This should not be confused with one gaining fame or publicity after they have assisted the victim. According to Kant (2017), it is the motive that determines the worth of an action. Therefore, the consequences of the action should not be used to assess the moral worth of the action. It is only the motive that can be used to assess the moral worth of the action (Korsgaard, 2014). If the good samaritan gains publicity after they have done their duty, then they cannot be accused of having done the action with the motive of gaining publicity.

When….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


References

Kant, I. (2017). Kant: The metaphysics of morals: Cambridge University Press.

Köllen, T. (2016). Acting out of compassion, egoism, and malice: A Schopenhauerian view on the moral worth of CSR and diversity management practices. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(2), 215-229.

Korsgaard, C. M. (2014). From duty and for the sake of the noble: Kant and Aristotle on morally good action Kant on Emotion and Value (pp. 33-68): Springer.

sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Situation When Doing Good Is Wrong" (2018, February 15) Retrieved April 25, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/situation-when-doing-good-is-wrong-essay

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Situation When Doing Good Is Wrong" 15 February 2018. Web.25 April. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/situation-when-doing-good-is-wrong-essay>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Situation When Doing Good Is Wrong", 15 February 2018, Accessed.25 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/situation-when-doing-good-is-wrong-essay
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example