Summary
Decisions in professional life or personal life experience are often ambiguous and complex. Even if a person adheres to one moral theory, in some cases, it is simply necessary to move away from the usual model and look at a difficult situation through the prism of a different model. It means that to make the best and right decisions in difficult life situations; it is necessary to analyze and understand the differences and standards of moral theories, such as Utilitarianism and Kantianism.
Explain
Utilitarianism and Kantianism offer different standards of right action. Utilitarianism considers activities that promote happiness and pleasure to be right and those that cause unhappiness or harm to be wrong. According to this moral theory, an action is good if it provides the greatest benefit to the largest number of persons in a community or group. Accordingly, those actions that do not lead to happiness are considered wrong.
According to Kantianism, the rightness of an action is not based on its consequences. This theory belongs to deontological moral theories that focus on ethics, which includes responsibility, moral obligation, and loyalty. According to Kantianism, duty, benevolence, and moral worth are vital to determining the morality of actions. Duty should be a fundamental aspect that should be considered when performing actions, and people should use their reasoning or rational thinking when making ethical decisions. Thus, an action is considered correct if the person who performs it is guided and motivated only by goodwill and duty.
Apply
Considering Connie’s conversion a utilitarian and Kantian would disagree about this case. Most likely, they would disagree about whether this is right or wrong. Utilitarians would think that Connie is doing the right thing by not telling his family about his changed views since this theory considers action right if it benefits most people. If Connie tells her parents that she no longer shares their faith, it will hurt their feelings and bring bad luck to both her and her family as they will not be able to communicate properly again, which makes the action wrong from a utilitarian point of view. When Connie is silent about her changed views, although she violates some ethical aspects, this action is much more useful in the context of a utilitarian theory.
On the other hand, Kantianism considers such an action morally wrong. According to it, if the action is right may be determined by duty, moral obligation, and loyalty rather than its consequences. Since lying and hiding are unethical, this action would be wrong even if it theoretically benefits and preserves family relationships. However, in this theory, there is no requirement to tell the truth, but there is only a requirement not to lie. Lying is deliberate deception, so perhaps there is a way in this example not to lie. For example, if Connie were keeping silent about her changes in beliefs, not pretending that she still shares the faith of her parents, and not imitating the actions of a religious person, such as going to church or praying out loud. In that case, this could be correct from the point of view of Kantianism and probably the best possible solution for her situation.
Evaluate
The last one seems best based on exposure to virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and Kantianism. It is not the most popular theory, but it has some advantages over others. He puts the focus on ethics, not interests. It is this that, in the long term, is more beneficial to society since there is no point of conflict of interest, which is an advantage over utilitarianism. Under certain circumstances, utilitarians are able to justify even not entirely ethical actions, such as war or lies, if they think it will bring more benefit or happiness. Virtue ethics is also a great theory, but it’s hard to build on as it doesn’t provide enough specifics and is a bit vague compared to Kantianism.