Kant On Cheating Essay

Words: 486
Pages: 2

According to Kant, it would not be okay to cheat on the final exam. He thought people should act in the following way, “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Rachels, 130). The PowerPoint defined a maxim as the following, “Maxims, according to Kant, are subjective rules that guide action. In this example, Kant would ask himself if cheating on a test would be beneficial if it became a universal law. As we know, we do not want it to be okay for everyone to cheat on a test. If cheating was acceptable, taking a test would be pointless. You could no longer use a test to test how the students grasps the material. Students wouldn’t be studying, because they could just cheat. …show more content…
As a result, you would think it is wrong to cheat on the test. If you do not find it wrong to cheat on a test, you will begin to think that cheating in other things is acceptable too. Cheating will not benefit you or the world in a positive way. People are looking for the easy way out when they cheat. If I had to choose what theory that relates the closest to my opinion on this issue, it would be a utilitarian. I believe one of the reasons why our world has so much violence, angry, and is going downhill is because we follow an egoist type of view. In today’s world, many people care about themselves. They do not care about how it will affect the world today or years to come. You can use the lack of recycling or cutting down the rain forest as an example of how humans think of themselves. I know that studying for a test is very beneficial. If you cheat, you are not learning the material your professor taught you. Many students do not grasp the concept when the teacher explains it in class. People have to review their notes to make the information stick. This is why studying is so beneficial. We do not want our future doctors to try to save our lives if they think it is okay