Post 4 # 343

I feel that Kant and Mills are two very different people.They believe in most of the same things but have different aspect towhat those things mean to them. There ethical theory are the same inthat they share a lot of the same values but because of who they areas individuals and their upbringing the view them differently. Onemajor one I will focus on is Unitarianism. In this essay I will focuson them as individuals then compare and contract at the conclusion ofmy paper.First I would like to focus on Kant's ethical theory focus onepistemology and metaphysic, epistemology. Kant likes to focus onmorals of epistemology and the reasoning of metaphysics. Kantbelieves that "freedom is an ideal of reason; that without thefunction of freedom reason cannot act." For example I think Kant istrying to say, because of freedom we learn from our actions and thoseactions and human life gives of knowledge to be able to reason.Also, Kant's criticism of utilitarianism is very famous; he believesthat utilitarian theories actually devalue the individuals it issupposed to benefit. Kant also believed that utilitarian theories areleaning more towards inclination in humans for pleasure andhappiness, not by the universal moral law by reason. In which I feelhe philosophy is incorrect because, without human happiness andpleasure they would not be able to reason by moral law.Kant is also a strong believer of good will he states that "good willis good not because of what it performs or affects, not by itsaptness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by virtueof the volition; that is, it is good in itself." In his writing hewrites "like a jewel it would shine by its own lights, as a thingwhich has its whole value in itself." I feel this quote from hiswriting reflects that we are the jewel and our good will within oneanother is our light that shines upon us.I would like to focus on John Stuart Mill and some of his theories.John Stuart Mill was educated by his father and grew up with a strongreligious up bringing. He was a philosopher who had focused on manyethical issues such as the harm principle, liberty and his opinion onutilitarianism. Mill's believed that "it is better to be a humansatisfied rather then a pig dissatisfied." He also believed that ifyou are educated and a college graduate you should be granted morevoting power then someone who is not because you have more experienceand understanding.Mills was a strong believer in the harm principle and liberty. Theharm principle states, that each individual has the right to act ashe wants, as long as the actions do not harm others. Liberty involvesdefense of free speech. Mill would argue that free discourse is anecessary for intellectual and social progress. We can never be surethat opinions do not contain some kind of truth. For example, Millswould state harms may include acts of some kind of omission and orcommission; failing to rescue and drowning person counts as a harmfulact.As for Utilitarianism Mills believed in that cultural,intellectual, and spiritual pleasures are valued more then physicalpleasure he is very opinionated in that he believes that physicalplease are not as strong as cultural, intellectual and spiritual. Ithink this has a lot to do with his upbringing because he is welleducated and very religious. But most importantly utilitarianismreflects on both his two ethical theory which are liberty and theharm principle.In what I have pointed on both Mills and Kant you can see howthey are both very opinionated people. They have they same view inwhich they both believe in freedom as long as not harming others and,good will in a human. They both believe in utilitarianism butdifferent aspect of it but I think that is do to their different inupbringings and how they both have very strong opinion.