Contradiction Between Honest, Moral, and Success, Essay Example

Is there a contradiction between our demand that our children be honest and moral persons and our demand that they be successful? Present the argument that there is a contradiction, and see if you can answer it.

Society dictates that each individual should strive to be maximally successful. While this is a noble goal, many people interpret this expectation in a manner that leads them to pursue this goal without consideration of moral integrity. In many cases, there is a contradiction between our demand that our children be honest and moral persons and our demand that they be successful. Many philosophers, including Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill, have generated theories that demonstrate this contradiction.

In order to be successful, people typically participate in dishonest acts, and almost every person has committed this kind of dishonesty in one way or another. We are taught from an early age that we should get good grades, have a lot of friends, do well in sports and other hobbies, and graduate into high level and high paying jobs, but it is impossible to excel in all tasks we participate in without some level of compromise. As a consequence, many people are forced to cheat to get ahead. In this sense, “cheating” is a broad term that can take on a different meaning depending on the specific activity and person involved. Examples of cheating to get ahead include taking advantage of relationships or bribing others to get a desired job or promotion or simply asking a friend for answers on an exam. While most people would view these acts as wrong, others feel that they are required to do so because this will help them achieve the success that is expected of them. It is nearly impossible to gain a perfect balance between success and honesty and many of the people we consider to be successful have been dishonest at some point during their climb to the top.

Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant have taken such philosophical questions into consideration when defining the meaning of morality. Ultimately, he claims that we must use reason to consider the difference between what is right and wrong. Since we are taught that we must be successful and we must be moral, we strive to achieve these two goals simultaneously, which brings us into conflict. In other words, to be successful, we must be willing to not be moral. To be moral, we must be willing to give up success. Kant argues that rational beings are able to pursue certain “ends” using the appropriate “means” (Kant 248). In the case of success being the “ends”, an individual can easily use dishonesty as the “means”. This example demonstrates that rational beings understand that the two concepts of integrity and success are commonly two opposing forces and that dishonesty is a common pathway to success.

John Stuart Mill was a philosopher that contributed greatly to the concept of utilitarianism in which an ethical decision is defined as the situation in which the greatest number of people benefit and the least number of people suffer. While some philosophers disagree with this theory and believe that that ethics should operate at the level of the individual, many of the world’s governments and societies today operate upon this principle. In Democratic cultures, we are taught that the majority rules and that it is these people who will get what they want. As a consequence, every individual strives to be in the majority, which in a sense, is a definition of success.

Even in politics, people must be dishonest to get ahead. The majority earned its power overtime through tradition and bargains behind closed doors. When modern politicians run for office, they always promise the public that they will act upon or change certain things that they either are incapable or have no intention of doing. Despite this, dishonesty is rewarded with success because the politicians who promise the most believable or eloquent lies frequently gain office.

In conclusion, morality and the drive to succeed are contradictory ideas. Success equates to dishonesty and honesty equates to failure. Rational people recognize this and decide how they will act according to rules of this contradiction early on. It is difficult to claim which decision is correct, only that both success and morality cannot occur simultaneously.