Moral Dilemmas – Choosing Between Two Rights

Moral Dilemmas – Choosing Between Two Rights

Introduction

The world comprises of persons living according to varying ethics and morals, and more often, ethical dilemmas occur. These dilemmas have had drastic implications affecting many people, while others have had a significant influence on individual actions and behaviors. Individuals settle on specific decisions which influence their world perceptions when they encounter moral dilemmas. They alter it to shape it to justify their actions or decisions, which may make room for the same actions to happen again. The Gone Baby Gone movie, directed by Ben Affleck, represents an artwork where the audience is left in contradiction about the opinions in the end. The main character, Patrick Kenzie, faces a moral dilemma and has to make decisions that could be explored and determined as problematic or non-conforming from the Kantian deontology morality point of view. Patrick, as the main character, has to decide the future life of Amanda, the kidnapped girl. While the movie is full of dramatic scenes, the actions of Patrick Kenzie raise the critical question of whether the main character’s decisions are moral or immoral based on the Kantian deontological philosophical framework of moral ethics. Kantian framework entails obeying reason and rationality, which in itself is a duty determining an individual’s obligations to oneself and others as well as the entire humanity. Need help with your assignment ? Reach out to us. We offer excellent services.

First, it is a complicated matter to make justification according to deontology and Kantian ethics. Moral judgment is comprised of calculating the consequences of actions or decisions, which needs to evaluate a person’s motives (Bazerman, 2020). Determining the motive entails examining the character’s situation and whether the decision exploits other people at the expense of personal interests(Heinzelmann, 2018). The case of Patrick’s decision to return Amanda to her mother could be argued to be dictated by his responsibility as a law-obeying citizen. In his decision, he claims that Captain Doyle was not dictated by the moral decision because the Captain had a personal motive. Therefore, in the context of Patrick’s decision against the wishes of the Captain, the Captain’s decision was problematic since it did not conform fully to both deontological and Kantian ethics of morality.

Secondly, Patrick’s resolution is not dictated by the principles of Kant’s deontological philosophy. Patrick seems to care more about the outcomes of his actions than about his moral duty as dictated by Kantian ethics. He is particularly worried about the legislative laws that Amanda was kidnapped and the plan by the Captain to fake her death. Patrick seems to have made the right decision to return the girl, but in a real sense, he did not do anything good, taking into consideration Amanda’s home environment. Her mother, Helenes, never cared about her, and Amanda was a neglected child, but still, Patrick considered it right to return her. Therefore, from Kantian deontological philosophy, this decision was problematic.

Thirdly, making a judgment on Patrick’s decision from the Kantian perspective, the decision made is based on his non-emotional and rational nature. His decision is guided by the social principles pertinent to morality about kidnapping, even in the contexts with a motive of best intentions and also as a crime. The judgment per se of the decision to return Amanda may be argued as ethical and moral. However, Kantian deontological philosophy(Bustos, 2008) asserts that action becomes moral only when it is executed only because of respect for duty. Since Patrick’s decision is dictated by duty, it is moral, and this, according to Kant, is legal by law but exclusive of ethical context.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is contradictory to claim that Patrick’s decision was moral or immoral according to the Kantian deontological perspective. His decision is likely to imply that many people will suffer. However, Patrick’s actions were not motivated by positive intentions and were not merely dictated by emotions. Considering Kant’s deontological philosophy of morality, his decision was based on reason and duty, as well as rationality, and this is evident by his intuition. Overall, his decision could be argued to be ethical based on Kant’s perspective that the subjective and relative degree of a person’s intuition equals the dictate of moral requirement, which is absolute.

References

Bazerman, M. H. (2020). A New Model for Ethical Leadership. Harvard Business Review, 98(5),             90-97.

Bustos, K. (2008). Defending a Kantian conception of duties to self and others. The journal of value inquiry, 42(2), 241-254.

Heinzelmann, N. (2018). Deontology defended. Synthese, 195(12), 5197-5216.

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Overview:
This week, we talked about the impact culture and ethics can have on individuals and
organizational performance. For this assignment, you will analyze an individual who is
faced with a moral dilemma in a movie.

Moral Dilemmas – Choosing Between Two Rights

Instructions:
• Select a movie from the Movie Choice List found in this week’s Readings and
Resources.
• Research several ethical frameworks.
Use your readings from this week to help you select a framework and do a
more in-depth study of that framework.
• Select one framework as a basis for your decision.
• Analyze the situation or individual in the movie using the chosen framework.
• Discuss the framework, your decision, and how it fits the ethical framework you
used for your decision.
Requirements:
• Develop a clear introduction with a thesis, a body, and a conclusion. Focus on
the quality of writing, as opposed to length.
• Research and include at least one additional, credible reference from an outside
source pertaining to the leader you chose.