emperors club
...so enhancing him to third place. In addition, the professor was sure that Bell had the potential to succeed and wanted to prove to himself that he was right. I will also claim that this is a paradoxical dilemma, one in which someone doesn’t want to make a decision but must. When professor Hundert came upon Bell’s exam while grading, he knew that he had the authority to change the grade which in turn would prove to Bell that he is capable of succeeding and allowing him to strive harder in the future. Hundert was aware that as a consequence of him changing the grade, he would have to live with the guilt of shattering another student’s ambition to become Mr. Julius Caesar. An ethical theory that can be best linked to this situation would be egoism and a more narrower version, psychological egoism. Hundert had made his moral decision based on his self interest, which is the basis of egoism. The theory contends that ones moral decision is determined primarily out of self interest and that no individual has any moral duty consider anyone else’s best interest. The theory claims that the only duty we are obligated to is pursuing that of our own self interest. This seems apparent in The Emperors Club because Hundert was thinking more of proving something to himself than thinking of the consequences for others. When thinking of whether or not to change the grade, he should have considered the result it would have on the student who is being pushed aside. Egoism fits perfectly because Hundert doesn’t do this, he only considers his own worthiness. It is not that we are selfish beasts intentionally, rather that it is the way in which we are constructed that allows us to act in such ways, claims an egoist. As you can notice, his intentions are entirely motivated not by good will or the act of rightness, but rather out of self interest. Good will and the act of rightness introduces two other theories that wouldn’t be appropriate for this situation, a theory from Emmanuel Kant and a theory from consequentialism. Considering this unique situation, these two theories would not be appropriate for their own reasons. At first glance Kant’s theory of good will seems to fit Hunderts reason for his decision rather well. One would claim Hundert acted the way he did purely out of good will. But it’s when we look into the meaning of good will do we realize what Kant means by this term. According to Kant, in order for a good will to be achieved, the “...goodness depends on the will...” What Kant meant by this was that the only way for our good will to have any moral worth, we must act out of. If we were to act from feeling or self interest as Hundert did, it would have no moral worth. Some may have thought that Hundert acted from good will but as we look deeper into Kant’s theory we realize that this is not true. To grasp a better understanding of Kant’s theory, we can take a look at the categorical imperative. In short, the categorical imperative 1 says, “that an act is morally right if and only if we can will it to become a universal law of conduct.” In order to consider Hundert’s action moral, the rule of his action would have to be universalized without logical contradiction. Obviously, anyone who believe in Kant would plainly reject Hundert’s action because the rule of his action has a logical contradiction. There is yet another way to approach the categorical imperative and that is considering persons as ends and not just as means. Basically what this states is that you must not only consider the act just from your viewpoint but from the perspective of the other side, in this case, the student whom is being victimized. Hundert would have to put himself in the position of the student and accept the fact that he is being robbed out of his right to compete in the Mr. Julius Caesar competition. Obviously we don’t know what he would think but we can use our imagination. Not only would Kant disagree but a consequentialist would also have his argument. This argument would be based on the theory that “the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.” What this claims is that if the consequences were good then the action was right. But as most of us can all agree, the consequences of Hunderts action turned out to be disappointing, so we can reasonably conclude through the consequentialist theory that his action was wrong. Although we know Hundert would have predicted quite the opposite. He thought Bell would win the competition and have a higher self esteem and, for himself, to be known as a professor who made a miracle possible. Now you can tell why the egoistic theory is more appropriate for The Emperors Club that Kant’s theory and that of consequentialism Although while making a decision, we may use our own methods of the thinking process, egoists argue that decisions are motivated from our deep sense of selfishness. Though this doesn’t mean that it is a conscious process. Because that it is part of our make up and more or less an internal force, when we make choices based out of selfishness, it is merely an unconscious act. This is noticeable in Hundert. Although he did look over Bell’s exam twice, he didn’t seem to show any emotion or care for the student whom is being victimized. I am not arguing in defense of Hundert, rather I am defining his actions from an egoistic perspective. There seemed to be several reasons apparent as to why Hundert had changed the grade. But one in particular seems to be evident. It is obvious that Hundert and Bell’s relationship developed over time, considering that when they first met, where it seemed like it was a dual of whom can embarrass the other more. But once Hundert realized that he had emotionally scarred Bell by embarrassing him, he felt as if he owed him something in return. From Hundert’s view, he believed that he needed to help this young man bloom from a foolish adolescent to a wise scholar. By accomplishing this, he would not only feel better about himself but have a feeling of superiority because of having improved the self esteem of a student who seemed helpless. It is also apparent that he had intentions of proving to the headmaster of St. Benedict of what an in incredible job he did by helping Bell get back on track. Now that I have seen the film, watched Hundert make his decisions and am aware o...