Paper Summary:

This paper examines Socrates' and Kant's philosophies regarding morality and looks at how the fundamental difference in the definition between the two is that Kant's moral failure is an independent act to a moral right by virtue of the lack of impact of consequences while Socrates' main model of immorality is based on injustice resulting from the action. It discusses, therefore, how the dilemma of immorality in the former is an ethical one and immorality in the latter is presented as a social dilemma.

Outline:
Socrates
Socrates on Morality
Kant on Socrates
Socrates, Kant and Morality

From the Paper:

"Kant's Moral philosophy is one of the main alternatives to utilitarianism which marginalizes moral humanistic virtues. Kant's view on morality is essentially deontological which implies a focus on the action to be done regardless of the consequences ("Kant: The Moral", 2001). This implies that if a person is doing something that is right, then even if the results of his actions create a negative outcome, then he still did the right thing. There is also a prescriptive quality to Kant's view: the assumption is that everyone should do what is right and that it should be universally right (Wood, 2004). Thus, for an action to be considered moral, it should be within the capacity of everyone and viewed as a correct action universally ("Kant's Moral Philosophy", 2007). Viewing Socrates' action through Kant's Moral Philosophy, there are arguments both to support the morality of Socrates actions."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jowett, Benjamin (1999).Gorgias by Plato. Project Guttenberg. Retrieved on April 2, 2007 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/grgis10.txt
• Jowett, Benjamin (2000). Plato's Apology. Retrieved on April 2, 2007 http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
• Kant's Moral Philosophy (2004). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved on April 2, 2007 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/
• Kant: The Moral (2001). Philosophy Pages. Retrieved on April 2, 2007 from http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5i.htm
• Nikolaos, Bakalis (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics Analysis and Fragments. New York: Trafford Publishing

Visitors who viewed this Comparison Essay also liked these:

• Analytical Essay # 60995 : "Plato, Descartes and Kant"
• Analytical Essay # 113927 : "Kant's Metaphysics of Morals"
• Analytical Essay # 18071 : "The Meaning Of Life"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: