Gennaro Ungaro
PHIL 3000 – Philosophical Ethics
Participation Folder – Assignment #12
11/03/2014
Five Unbreakable Rules in Society
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Don’t kill your neighbor. There are courts for disputes.
Don’t steal from your neighbor. Would you want your neighbor to steal from you?
Respect people. Lest you become an outcast.
Question your government. However, do not act rash.
Work hard in your profession. In addition, enjoy your time off.
I arrived at these rules because I consider them common sense. However, I’m sure some people
out there would disagree with me on some of them. Two of the rules I laid out I would think to be
absolutely unbreakable. Those being killing and stealing. According to Kant, if these were indeed
unbreakable rules, they should never be broken under any circumstance. Although I feel that killing and
stealing are unbreakable rules, I do however have exceptions. For instance, if a person is starving and
crossing a farm and happens to take a stalk of corn and eats it, I do not believe that to be stealing.
However, according to Kant, it is. In another instance, if a terrorist blows up a building and kills a
thousand people and he is tried, convicted and sentenced to death, I believe that to be justified killing, but
according to Kant, it wouldn’t. Kant is too strict in my opinion when it comes to rules. He leaves no room
for justifiable negotiations.