Immanuel Kant Theory of Justice

Immanuel Kant Theory of Justice The philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that his retributive theories of justice were based in logic and reason. The retributive stance on punishment states that punishment is necessary, and indeed, justified, on the basis that the act of committing crime deserves punishment. The strict guidelines Kants theories created, coupled with the very nature of retributive justice fuelled the arguments of those of Kants critics who claimed his approach would lead to harsh and ineffective sentencing. It is my intention to use this paper as a means of exploring and addressing these claims. Judicial punishment can never be used merely as a means to promote some other good for the criminal himself or for civil society, but instead it must in all cases be imposed on him only on the ground that he has committed a crime; for a human being ought never to be manipulated merely as a means related to anothers purposes First, he must be found to be deserving of punishment before consideration can be given to the utility of this particular punishment for himself or for fellow citizens  [1]  . Upon considering the above it is clear that, in Kants view, the only purpose punishment should serve is to penalize the criminal for committing a crime. Whether or not the punishment could have an affect on the criminals propensity to reform is therefore irrelevant. The punishment is there to punish the criminal for the crime they have committed; nothing more, nothing less. This leads on to the theory of just deserts. This theory is now considered to be one of the more prominent views on the subject of the punishment of criminals  [2]  . The key belief of the principle being that offenders must deserve punishment: [in] the everyday thinking about punishment, the idea of desert figures prominently. Ask the person on the street why a wrongdoer should be punished, [and] he is likely to say that he deserves it  [3]  . Kant advocated two principles regarding the way punishment should be meted out. As we have established above, the first of which is that the only right and proper grounds for punishment is that the criminal deserves it. And so it follows that punishing a criminal with the aim of promoting happiness, reformation or deterrence would run contrary to the categorical imperative by making the punishment a means to an end. Kants categorical imperative is the universal law that states that all people must act in a morally correct manner at all times. Therefore ones own desires or wishes cannot be taken into account when making a decision, as no one persons desires should be prioritized above anothers. The desired outcome of any action must be to avoid causing harm or inflicting damage upon another person. In this regard, Kant defines an act as morally correct if it can be applied as a universal law. For example: I will never tell the truth would be deemed to be immoral because it could not b e applied as universal law as, in the event of everyone having to never tell the truth, the truth would lose its significance. In simpler terms, when considering Kants categorical imperative, the logical approach surely dictates that we must consider the affect our own actions will have on others, and then to avoid carrying out actions that will harm or hinder the rights of others. The second of Kants principles regarding punishment relates to proportionality; the sentence received should be proportionate to the crime committed. Kants theories of autonomy and free decision making make up the foundations for his view on just deserts. The theory submits, first of all, that everybody is duty bound to respect each others rights. Kant goes on to suggest that adhering to the law is a sacrifice of ones right to freedom of choice. Therefore, those that commit crime gain an unfair advantage over those that do not. Punishment is used as a means to redress the balance between the law abiding citizens and the criminals, removing any unfairly gained advantage from the criminals. The punishment is intended to punish no more or less than relates to the advantage gained. It follows, therefore, that deterrence and reformation bear no relevance to this method of sentencing. This type of justice system is still relevant today, and indeed, has been put to use by some governments. The U.S. State of California has rigorously applied retributive punishment philosophies to its court system. Retributive justice has been applied in California since the inception of the Determinate Sentencing Law: The Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of imprisonment for crime is punishment  [4]  . One of the key policies of Californias justice system is the three strike rule. The three strike rule was introduced in 1994  [5]  . Its main purpose was to punish repeat offenders by handing out long sentences a minimum of twenty-five years to those that have been convicted of a felony and already have two strikes for violence on their record. Sentencing under these guidelines leads to particularly long, and critics say, ineffective, sentences  [6]  . The policy has been successful in that it has kept criminals off the streets for longer  [7]  , but it can be argued that the detrimental effects, such as criminals receiving life sentences for what amounts to petty offences the third strike doesnt have to be a violent offence outweigh the beneficial effects. This policy also conflicts with Kants categorical imperative in that receiving a life sentence for being convicted of shoplifting  [8]  (as the third strike) is not proportionate. We have already established that Kants intention is for individuals who have been found to have broken the law to receive punishment that is relative to the advantage that they have gained by committing the crime. If the above assessment were to hold true it would mean that Andrew von Hirschs proclamation regarding the opinion of the person on the street  [9]  would surely be correct. Despite this, one could argue there to be various potential flaws present within the theory. Not the least of which is how to apply this theory of punishment to a criminal that has gained no discernible advantage from their crime. For example: A boy living alone with his mother is periodically abused by her. He is subjected to sustained mental, physical and sexual assaults that he is powerless to prevent. He is kept locked up for the majority of his time at home and is threatened that, were he to tell anyone of what he has suffered, he would receive more severe abuse. The abuse continues as he grows older and eventually he fights back. On this occasion he hears his mother approaching him via the stairs that lead to his room. He rushes to the top of the stairs and pushes her down them, resulting in her death. I would suggest that it is certainly arguable that the boys only intention was for the abuse to stop, rather than an intention to kill or seriously injure his mother. SOURCE IT UP It surely would not be right to say that there has been any advantage gained in this example. The rest of society is not expected to endure such abuse, and so it follows that the boy was already at a disadvantage. Also, surely th e victim in this crime was herself guilty of not respecting the rights of her son, as per Kants theory of just desert. This would surely lend weight to the line of thinking that it would be unfair to punish the criminal in this, albeit radical example, where there has been no advantage gained, by the very same principles applied to those that have gained some advantage. This example seems to support the beliefs of Kants critics  [10]  , and certainly strengthens the view that two wrongs dont make a right. Kant endorsed capital punishment as a suitable punishment for murderers  [11]  . This stance is a good example of Kants beliefs regarding proportionality; a life for a life. However, this stance also goes some way to strengthening the claims of those that believe Kants philosophy encourages harsh sentencing  [12]  . This leads on to the area of Kants philosophy that has attracted the most criticism. How can ending the autonomy of another, criminal or otherwise, be in keeping with Kants theories regarding categorical imperative? To use Kants own words, to hand out capital punishment must surely be classed as FIND SOME RELEVANT WORDS. Why is it that this stance can be upheld in relation to suicide or murder, but disregarded when it comes to the punishment of a criminal? Again, we turn to the view of Andrew von Hirsch, who said: A person who violates the rules has something others have the benefits of the system but by renouncing what others have assumed, the burdens of self-restraint, he has acquired an unfair advantage. Matters are not even until this advantage is in some way erased à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Justice that is punishing such individuals restores the equilibrium of benefits and burdensà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [13]   Kant justifies such an approach by saying [the criminal] draws the evil deed back to himself when he suffers that which according to the penal law is the same as what he has inflicted on others. According to this line of thinking, a criminal that has murdered somebody else has done so because they have made a choice to do so, and in doing so, they have gained an advantage over the victim. In other words: A kills B because A didnt like the look of B. By murdering B, A has sought to gain an advantage over the rest of law abiding society, who by adhering to the law, have sacrificed their freedom of choice. So, As choice to murder B, is deemed to be A unfairly reclaiming his freedom of choice. However, if A is punished via capital punishment, it is not to gain any advantage, it is merely to punish A for the crime he has committed in a proportionate manner. He has taken a life, therefore his own becomes forfeit. Again, though, there is a case for arguments against Kants stance on the ma tter. How can theory stand up in cases where the criminal has not acted out of any rational thought? How can Kants view apply in cases where the criminal has lost their mind to insanity and acted on instinct rather than choice? There is no reason, no autonomy in such an instance. In conclusion, I believe Kants theory on punishment to promote certain values which are of utmost importance to society. Namely, the categorical imperative and, in particular, his view on morally correct actions. However, there is perhaps, something robotic about his theory. It would be wonderful if everybody told the truth all of the time, regardless of consequence. It would be equally wonderful if people did not commit crime at all. I believe that asking everyone to follow the same universal laws, while noble and beneficial in theory, cannot be achieved due to the complexity and intrinsic selfishness of human beings. Similarly, to punish them in such a way; without taking deterrence, the propensity to reform, or any other individual factors pertaining to a given case, such as circumstance and state of mind, would be unfair. While I agree that proportionality would offer certain advantages when sentencing, such as adherence to the rule of law; everyone is treated equally. Kants stan ce on punishment also presents its fair share of problems. Namely, that peoples actions are often dictated by circumstance, which obviously would not be taken into consideration under the guide lines laid out by Kant, and presented throughout this essay. Owing to this fact, I believe that Kants stance on punishment would be perfect in an ideal world. However, as unfortunate as this fact is: we do not live in an ideal world.

Essay “Walking or Biking versus Driving a Car”

Walking and Driving Walking is the motion of exerting energy. Driving is the usage of the foot to accelerate from the gas to the break or vice versa. How does walking compare to driving? Which one of the two gives a good feeling afterwards? Is there even a difference between walking and driving? Walking is using the human body to move from one place to another in a certain pace. Walking takes energy. To get energy, food and water is needed in the human body system.To reach a certain destination, walking takes a pretty good amount of time. How is it that walking seems to take longer than driving, even when a person walks at Walking or Biking versus Driving a Car Transportation is the key to survival in our world today . When one is not equipped to travel to and from places in an efficient and timely manner , the repercussions can be severe . Some of the repercussions involved are losing your job or missing an important appointment .This is why we always choose to travel by the fastest method available . Unfortunately , the motorized forms of transportation such as driving a car , holds tremendous negative effects for the person and our environment . We have also lost touch with the simpler , yet more enjoyable forms of transportation from our youth . I am talking about being able to take long walks , or riding my bicycle down the road to get to where it is I want to go . I remember when I was little and attending grammar school at the nearby public school.I fondly recall that each morning , I would hurriedly get dressed and wolf down my breakfast and then my mother and I would walk hand in hand as she took me to school . I was able to bond a lot with my mother during that time . The most memorable times of my life were of taking walks with my mother as we did her errands at local merchants . Each afternoon, I would accompany her to the local grocer , laundry shop ,and other places and then , if I was a really behaved child , my mother would take me to the soda s hop before we headed home.When I got older ,my mother allowed me to walk to school with my friends and classmates . This made going to school even more fun for me because I got to know my neighbors and classmates before class . Going to school was not something I dreaded because it was like a game for me and my friends . These memories are things I treasure from my youth . It was only later on in life that I learned that by walking to my various destinations, I was not only making valuable memories , but I was also keeping myself  healthy and fit by giving myself the best form of cardiovascular exercise — walking.By walking, I allowed myself to breath-in fresh air . The fresh air helped to clean up and strengthen my lungs in the process . I guess this is why even to this day , I always talks walks for nearby errands . I am also a member of an unofficial walking club that meets on weekends at the park for early morning walks . When I reached High School , I was suddenly thru st into a fast paced world that required a faster mode of transportation other than my two feet.Admittedly , talking walks with my friends was great , but we could not afford to be late to school nor take separate buses to school either . The problem was solved when I got my first two-wheeled bicycle at the same time as my friends . I personally enjoyed this activity because it combined my two†¦ The idea may sound absurd, but there’s a legitimate insight behind it. Walking burns calories, which come from food—and it takes an enormous quantity of fossil fuels to produce, process, and transport everything that we eat.Add in the other GHGs from agriculture—everything from cow manure to emissions from synthetic fertilizers—and you’ve got a potent global warming cocktail in every glass of milk. But our doppelgangers at the Pacific Institute did their homework, compiling evidence about climate emissions from both cars and food. And they came to the conclusion that walking emits about one-quarter the GHGs of driving—earning a partial retraction from Tierney. (You go, PacInst! ) But looking at the numbers, I think that the Pacific Institute’s numbers are conservative.In fact, I think that when I take a short walk, I’m being at least 12 times as friendly to the climate as if I drove. Your mileage may vary, of course; but my shoes get about 220 miles per gallon. Here are a handful of reasons why I think that walking look even more climate friendly than the Pacific Institute’s estimates suggest: What would a walker be doing otherwise? Walking burns calories, but a person also burns calories while driving, or just loafing around.So what matters isn’t the total calories your body burns during a walk, but the marginal calories from walking vs.  driving + whatever else you’d do with your time. CalorieLab gives some helpful clues: for a half-hour walking trip, they estimate that a 176 pound pe rson (the average of the median weights for men and women in the US) burns about 106 extra food calories, compared with a 5 minute drive and 25 minutes of watching TV. This figure is slightly less than the figure the Pacific Institute used. And if you do anything more strenuous than sit on your butt for those 25 minutes, then the food-calorie â€Å"advantage† of driving narrows even further.

Mt459: Consumer Behavior Unit 3 Assignment

Do you think that it was a good segmentation for M&M’s to develop a new version targeting adults? In observing how M&M’s have changed over time from the addition of peanut butter and almonds to the changing of colors and sizes I think that was a great segmentation strategy to develop a new version targeting adults. The new line of M&M’s is 55 percent larger in size and they come in colors that are appealing to adults in its design (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007).According to spokeswoman Joan Buyce of Masterfoods USA this creation is designed with adults in mind and â€Å"It broadens our portfolio so there's something for everyone† (M&M's get mega-sized, 2012, p. 1). Buyce also states that the new M&M's are available in milk chocolate as well as peanut varieties and come with an adult-oriented color scheme which includes teal, beige, gold, maroon, brown and blue-gray (M&M's get mega-sized, 2012).Due to the new line of M&M’s including aspects that target ad ults I think that it is a great segmentation strategy because appealing aspects are included in the development of the new version. Discuss three basic types of research of design (exploratory, descriptive and casual). The three basic types of designs are exploratory, descriptive and casual research. In the explorative research there is systematic and flexible and allows the researcher to investigate desires (Marketing Research Design, 2012).Explorative research is also most commonly unstructured, informal research that is undertaken to gain background information about the general nature of the research problem (Marketing Research Design, 2012). While descriptive research describes and measure marketing phenomena at a point in time (Marketing Research Design, 2012). This type of research is classified as a cross sectional study, because it is a one-time measurement, which is established in market research, outnumbering longitudinal studies and casual studies (Marketing Research Des ign, 2012).Casual research is performed to determine causality or to make â€Å"if-then† statements (Marketing Research Design, 2012, p. 1). This type of research uses one or more independent variables as well as the guidance of addition intervening variables (Marketing Research Design, 2012). The exploratory, descriptive and casual research mechanisms include different variables, features and methods that can be implemented in designs to make the outcomes both profitable and successful. Discuss use of research design for each method.Uses of exploratory, descriptive and casual research can be implemented in many different methods. Explorative research design is utilized to gain background information when the problem has not been clearly formulated (Marketing Research Design, 2012). This type of research is also used to define terms and concepts in addition to clarifying problems and hypotheses which allows the researcher to define the problem more precisely and to generate a hypothesis for the upcoming study (Marketing Research Design, 2012).Establishing research priorities is also used in exploratory research to prioritize research topics in order of importance, especially when it is faced with conducting several research studies (Marketing Research Design, 2012). While the uses of descriptive research is an experiment because it is defined as manipulating an independent variable to see how it affects a dependent variable, while also controlling the effects of additional extraneous variables (Marketing Research Design, 2012).The types of experiments that are utilized in description research are laboratory and field experiments in addition to test marketing (Marketing Research Design, 2012). Casual research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on the existing norms and allows market researchers to predict hypothetical scenarios (Marketing Research Design, 2012). Methods that are used in casual research design are scientific and co ntrolled experimentation, or cause and effect experiments which it ensures that any difference in the outcome is due to different treatments of the variable under the study (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007).When implementing uses of exploratory, descriptive and casual research it is important to utilize the appropriate method for the classification of research in order to receive successful results. Differentiate appropriate research design methods to use in consumer habits analysis. The appropriate research design methods are used in consumer habits analysis to understand which variables are the cause and which variables are the effect the aspects. This process is performed to determine the nature of the relationship between the causal variables, the effect to be predicted, and methods that are used (Perner, 2010).Businesses study how the consumers feel and think about options that are available about different products or brands which are consumer habits to enhance their market strategy ( Perner, 2010). The market research is necessary to ensure that we provide the desires of the customer and not our desires for the customer (Perner, 2010). There are two research design methods to analyze consumer behavior which are the primary and secondary research methods (Perner, 2010). Primary research is called research at first hand because it is the research that is designed and conducted by you (Perner, 2010).Secondary research is the research that is driven from previous information which is considered to be a by- product of primary research (Perner, 2010). This type of research involves using information that other people have already formulated (Perner, 2010). Overall, the difference between the types of research is that primary research is driven by collecting original information while secondary research is a finished product that is developed from primary research. ? ReferencesM&M's get mega-sized. (2012). Cable News Network. Retrieved from http://money. cnn. com/2005/ 08/04/news/funny/m_and_ms/ Marketing Research Design. (2012). SlideShare Inc. Retrieved from: http://www. slideshare. net/nbairstow/marketing-research-design Perner, L. (2010). Consumer Behavior: The Psychology of Marketing. Lars Perner. Retrieved from: http://www. consumerpsychologist. com/ Schiffman, L. & Kanuk, L. (2007). Consumer Behavior 9th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson Education, Inc.

Abortion (Medical Law and Ethics - 818 Words

Medical Law and Ethics Project Ethical Question: Should abortion be abolished? Is abortion murder? Should rape be considered a reason for a young woman to get an abortion? Ethical Scenario 1: A beautiful 20 year old female having the time of her life, maybe going crazy having unprotected sex while whoever and not caring or even thinking of her consequences. A few weeks go by and the female ends up pregnant and automatically she decides to have an abortion because she dont know the father or cant afford the child or just plainly doesn’t want children. Does she have the constitutional right to an abortion? Ethical Scenario 2: Across town another beautiful 20 year old just left her 2nd shift job at the local diner and is walking†¦show more content†¦There are still possibilities of infertility in the mother caused by doctor error or genetic predispositions, psychological damage, an even smaller possibility of death that come from getting abortions. There are many other options than to resort to abortion. Adoption, the use preemptive birth control, like condoms, pills, I.U.D.’s, and spermicides. 3. How does it make me feel? I was raised Christian, where it is considered a sin to abort a child in the eyes of God. For ethical scenario 2, her consequences are very disappointing and difficult but also very understandable. Anyone could see clearly that this child would be a reminder of her tragic situation. As for ethical scenario 1, that young lady was just completely being irresponsible and now does not want to handle the true life responsibilities that came along with her irresponsible decisions and lifestyle. In both cases, I must stay dormant due to the fact that I feel that gift of God should not in any form pay the consequences of decisions way beyond that child’s control, there is always another option. 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