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Krier 1Emma KrierPHIL 103Mrs yes19 October, 2021Philisophocial Theories on Brittany’s ConservatorshipThrough the evaluation of Brittany Spears' ongoing case of conservatorship, it can beseen that there are ways to discover moral decisions to get to the ground of her freedom. Theseviews are both observed through Kant and Bentham's philosophical lens to justify her liberty.According to Kant, morality is based on the principle behind the action. Kant believes that aslong as the root of the moral action has goodwill, it is morally correct. Kant explains moraldecisions as if the action can be universalized without any negative associations; there is apositive reason for morality. With this belief having a good heart does not always justify one'sdecisions and automatically makes them morally correct. As he explains, "... both (the talents ofthe mind and the qualities of temperament) may also become extremely bad and harmful if thewill that utilizes these gifts of nature, and whose constitution is this called character, is not itselfgood." When goodwill is in obedience with duty, it accounts for where the goodwill and actionare developed. Kant goes into detail about how lying is not morally permissible with his beliefsand lying roots from characteristic selfish traits. If one is allowed to lie, then others are alsogranted access to lie as well. Bentham, a historical and monumental philosopher, roots his beliefsaround happiness is for the great or good. Bentham bases his foundation around pleasure andpain and how these two aspects govern how human beings act and act out of will. Hisphilosophical theory is Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the focus of a citizen's actions on doingwhat benefits the community rather than the citizen's self. It is explained as "The doctrine thatactions are right if they are useful or benefit of the majority." This theory is used to evaluateKrier 2actions that promote happiness and or pleasure in opposition to actions that have a potential ofcausing the opposite. Both Kant and Bentham developed theories based on the foundation ofhappiness, yet approach this happiness in different ways. Kant focuses his theory on the "highertruth" behind an action. As long as the will of the action has positive morals, it is morally correct.It is leading good to create happiness. Compared to Bentham, Bentham roots his theory byfocusing on the majority compared to a decision itself. This means that even though the actionmay negatively affect the citizen if it benefits the community, it is morally right. This contrastswith Kant's theory regarding Kant believing the overall morale of the action whether it benefitsthe community or not.Brittany Spears, a 2000's pop star, has undergone a conservatorship with her father due topublic issues and rumors that were on the uprise in 2008. A conservatorship is when a potentialguardian or protector is granted acces to control ones daily life and put restrictions onto theiractions. This conservatorship in control by her father controlled her decisions when it came tosocial media, her career, and overall life. Although her father at the time thought this morallycorrect for the safety of his daughter, others argued against it. If one were to look at Brittany'sconservatorship through a Utilitarian lens, one would say he made the morally correct decision.Since Utilitarianism is focused on benefiting the majority rather than an individual, Mr. Spearshad made the morally correct choice by putting a conservatorship onto Brittany. Since Brittany,at the time, was arising public issues that potentially were due to mental health and or substanceabuse, Mr. Spears was protecting the majority from the inevitable. Mental health and substanceabuse can potentially cause some to act out; with this, either Brittany, her family, or evenpossibly the community, could be put into danger. Brittany has kids of her own and putting theKrier 3conservatorship onto Brittany was beneficial to her kids and protecting them from potentialdanger even though it had a possibility of negatively affecting Brittany.Similar to the evaluation of Utilitarism lense, this could also be applied to the Kantianlense with making the correct moral decision. Mr. Spears was given the decision whenwitnessing his daughter causing a public issue, to apply a conservatorship, and based off Kantsphilosophical theory he had made the correct moral decision. A Kantian lense is judging if adecision is morally correct or not by analyzing the principle behind it. Mr. Spears’ principlebehind his decision to lay a conservatorship on Brittany was to protect Brittany herself and theSpears family. The principle behind protecting his family was to shield from the public possibledanger Brittany could have potentially caused to her family name. If Brittany’s father did notprotect her by making the brutal decision, she could have had the opportunity to act out fromeither mental health and or subtance abuse and ruined her career and or hurt her family. Hismoral decision was focused around protecting his daughter from the unavoidable possibilities.After considering the facts revolving each philosophical theory of this case, I standbehind the view of Kant’s perspective. In regards to Kant’s perspective, Brittany’sconservatorship was morally chosen by her father by the quality of the will behind his decision.Brittany potentially suffered from this decsion, yet Mr. spears had chosen this decision based offhis pure reason to protect his daughter. His action sources from an underlying deeper maxim ofcaring passionately about his daughter and his family. If the conservatorship was not put intoaction, there was potentially a probability of more danger caused by Brittany herself in the publiceye. Mr. Spears’ actions had practical reason to act out of protection and conformed to theprinciples around Kant’s theory. Mr. Spears’ had to act rationally to preserve his daughter’sKrier 4platform from possibly being ruined with the public eye and due to these choices he had to make,Kant’s philosophical lense fits Brittany’s case in a greater way.Sources“Bentham *An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (excerpt)”“ Section I (Links to an external site.) of Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics


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CSU PHIL 103 - Philisophocial Theories

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