Immanuel Kant Beliefs on Suicide

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and so many people thinking they need to keep up with the standards of society. I know they had these problems in the past as well, but I do not believe it was as bad as in today’s society. For someone to commit suicide is completely morally wrong, I know the feeling of thinking you are alone and nothing every goes right for you. That is all in your mind, and you have to try to defeat it everyday. This is not something easy to do at all, and the fact that suicide is becoming more common is the reason more people decide not to fight their negative mind.

William Paley believes that we do have a moral obligation not to take God’s name in vein. He had studied all of the ten commandments and in the third commandment the Christ of Nazareth teaches people that you cannot reference God’s name or wrongfully use it in any shape or form. God wants happiness for his creatures and his name should not be used in a negative way, it is your duty to stay away from doing so.

Immanuel Kant, on the other hand, does not see a reason why you cannot swear by God’s name. He believes that there should be logic reasoning applied to each of your actions instead and use the formulations of categorical imperative.

John Stuart Mill also does not believe that you have an obligation not to take God’s name in vein. His reasoning for this different from William Paley’s beliefs, and Mill also created rules that utilitarian’s use. Mill believes that the best actions are the ones that will bring out the greatest amount of happiness, and that there has to be logical reasoning behind this to why it would bring out the greatest amount. Since religion is not based on actually logic and reasoning, but rather on beliefs then it is not something Mill would see a problem.

William Paley has indicted to us, from what I understand, that we do not have an obligation to follow Rule 8. Paley focuses on the poor, and even mentions that it would e acceptable for them to steal from the rich in order for their families or themselves to survive. He would not have though that the punishment would required for such an act by the poor.

Immanuel Kant took a different approach to Rule 8, because of his beliefs in goodwill. He believes that Rule 8 is somewhat making fun of the poor, and it would have been dismissed by Kant. Rule 8 was lacking any reasonable goodwill for the punishment to occur.

John Stuart Mill would look at the Rule number right in the code of the Hammurabi as favoring more of the rich, and like Kant, making fun of the poor or excluding them in a way. Mill would not have practiced this rule because in Mill’s opinion the rich are not the majority and should not be favored more than poor.

I do believe we have a moral obligation not to take God’s name in vain, this is because I do believe in a higher power. I believe that he guides us through life, and does what he has to in order for us to learn and find happiness. At the same time, we are not to be angry with him when something is not going our way because he has a plan for us and it is the right one. We must not think or say anything negative towards him. As for following Rule 8, I do not believe in stealing or in murder or any bad actions, but there could be exceptions to stealing. The only exception I would think is if you are stealing bread or something for your starving family. Even then it is so hard to determine whether I would be okay with it, this is only because I believe there could be other ways in providing for your family. At least, here in America, there are many shelters and people that donate to the poor. I know of so many times that there have been fundraisers just in my county, and I know there is a lot more going on everywhere in America. When I worked at Panera Bread Company, at the end of the night we packed all the food that was left over, each night, and it was donated. There would be boxes and boxes of so many goods, and if you just tried you could find another way. I don’t know how much punishment I would think there needs to be, I believe more in reasoning with them and helping them know what is out there. Sometimes people really just do not know.

Work Cited

Introduction to Modern Philosophy: Examining the Human Condition, Alburey Castell, Donald M. Borchert, and Arthur Zucker (eds). Prentice Hall. Seventh Edition.

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