How do you reconcile a request from an African American inmate to allow a transfer out of a section which is primarily White Supremacist? Justify your response, in terms of both utilitarianism and Kant’s theories. I learned while conducting research on the above topic that Kantian ethics is considered to be "deontological" in sense that it holds an action is "right" in and of itself without appeal to consequences. Kant explains that a faculty of the human mind called "practical reason" makes demands on us. Reasons of practicality demand that one act out of respect for the moral law. For example, lying is wrong simply because "practical reason" tells us that it is wrong without any appeal to consequences. Therefor, Kant's moral theory is could be summed up by using the term "categorical imperative" in that it makes demands that do not depend on context or consequences.

However, utilitarianism bases its understanding of the right action on consequences. Simply put, an act is considered "good" if it creates the most happiness and the least pain, for the largest number of people affected by that action. In this context, utilitarianism could be …show more content…
Justify your response, in terms of both utilitarianism and Kant’s theories. Personally I believe and I think that Kant would agree in moving the African American inmate simply because it goes with the demands of practical reason. however, the utilitarian would look at the context of the situation and the crime that the individual has committed (child molestation) and figure out whether the person under consideration should be transferred. In this case the utilitarian would probably deny the transfer of the African American. In other words, if the total amount of happiness caused by an action is significantly greater than the amount lost, the action was