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An Unselfish Mission To be lost is a feeling that a lot of people can relate to but probably never want to feel again if they have already went through the hassle. Another feeling that everyone actually has to face and go through is death, some have crossed over already and some have only experienced the death of a loved one. One thing that is for sure is that this isn’t the most pleasant event that humans have to go through. So just imagine having four sons and all of them being in the army; that can be scary enough all by itself. Then slowly but surely they all die one by one and your whole world is turned upside down. The catch of the story is that one may not be dead but under the circumstances is considered to be; his whereabouts are unknown, and he is missing in action. In the movie Saving Private Ryan this situation occurred and the victim of this was the Private’s mother. The main issue was the fact that this shouldn’t have happened in the first place because it was against the rules to have three siblings in the same place of war at the same time and Private Ryan was the only one by his self. So in response to this predicament Captain Miller decided to send some of his men to rescue Private Ryan. At first his crew was a bit hesitant to accept the mission and tried to think the worse and say that finding Private Ryan was nearly impossible. Once he told them they had no choice in the matter and it was settled that they were in fact going that was the end of it. The question is whether or not its right to risk seven men’s lives to save one mans life. One way to look at this is from a utilitarian perspective which is making a decision based on the good or wrong in it. By using this method you would have to examine this situation as a whole and not particularly look at any specific side. One man is lost and may survive if he’s found in time and six soldiers are sent to find him and may be potential candidates for death. It is definitely a situation that can have a negative result but has a chance for a very good outcome. So is it a worthy cause? Well if Private Ryan isn’t found the mother won’t have anyone and it is partially the army’s fought. These are the circumstances that utilitarian person would consider and after viewing this would probably feel that this is a worthy cause. The reason why they would feel that way is because by weighing the good and bad in the situation the good overshadows the negative because of the mother. After viewing utilitarianism most would probably side with Captain Miller and agree that the mother has already lost three sons and deserves to at least have one. Kantianism is a method that also incorporates good will, the distinct difference that it has from utilitarianism it the fact that it is literally for everyone and if anyone isn’t benefiting from a decision it feels that it is wrong to go through with the act. Some other factors that are included when dealing with the practice of Kantianism is that happiness is irrelevant and the main point is doing the right thing no matter what. So by reviewing all of these key factors if you decide to go through with a situation with the aid of a Kantian prospective you would not agree with Captain Miller’s decision. The reason that they would not agree with his decision is because from their perspective going to save this one man by risking seven men’s lives isn’t fair to those men. The mother did suffer but it wasn’t the soldier’s fault by no means; so why should their lives be put in danger? Personally I agree with the decision that the Captain made, it was a tough choice to make but a well thought out one. I think that when you decide to be apart of the army you should be prepared for any situation that may come your way and ready to fight for different causes. The unexpected should be expected when you devote your life to this type of group; this comes along with the package. The mother in this movie has suffered enough with the loss of her three sons; there is still hope for the forth one why not find him? I understand that seven men could very well get hurt or even more so be killed but it would have been for a greater cause. Some people fight everyday in Iraq for our country and never even get a step closer to ending the war and it is so unfair to them. I think that helping a mother who literally has nobody but her one son is a wonderful deed that just as any other mission would have been for something that you personally believe in and think is worth fighting for. This action should definitely not be looked at as a task it could be viewed as an opportunity to fight for a different kind of cause, one that people don’t consider. Since both of the theories Utilitarianism and Kantianism can be looked at from different perspectives when thinking in a morally correct way I would have to lean more towards Kantianism because everyone being happy would be nice but the world wouldn’t have any rules if this was the case and therefore would eventually turn into ciaos and nobody would know how to go about handling it. I think that it was the best decision when dealing with the choice of sending the men to save one man because it wants everyone’s happiness but when dealing with other issues in this huge world if everyone was happy it just wouldn’t work. One other factor to look at is the fact that how can you appreciate happiness if you never experience some type of trial that you go through to make you stronger; things like that make you grateful for blessings when they come. After thinking about both theories I have learned that people conceive things so much differently from each other and that it all depends on what type of situation your dealing with whether or not your final decision will change or remain the same. I also realized that my moral values are based on how I was raised and are related to my religious background. I have a great amount of respect for people and just would love for everyone to be truly happy but who can really know what happiness really is; it’s an interesting subject to try to understand but I would love to feel.