Moral Philosophy in ‘Liar Liar’ by Paul Guay

In the film entitled ‘Liar Liar’ scripted by Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur, there several charaters who feature. These include such people as Fletcher Reede’s acting as Jimmy Carey, Justin cooper acting as Max, Maura Tierney as Reed’s estranged wife, and Jenniffer Tilly among others (www.totalfilm.com ).

The movie is about smooth-talking attorney and habitual liar, manipulating his way to the helm of his job a local law company through winning great challenging cases. In the course of the film we find his son celebrating his fifth birthday. The son is seen at one time trying to encourage his father to lies.   This is because it is portrayed that this main character has lived and earned his career through lies.

It is not clear whether that he will be able to win a case involving a character by the name Samantha Cole whose cases is on infidelity. The main character is also faced with the challenge of stopping his ex-wife taking his son to live with her in Boston. Through the application of lies Carrey survives in his career without the web of lies on which his career depends.

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In the movie Liar Liar, though clouded in comic laughter, there are several incidences whereby some acts are portrayed as immoral. The main character in this film in his endeavors to push his career up, he did some things which proved to be immoral. He pursued his cases based on a web of lies which worked wonders for. Though to him this was a success the acts were in themselves immoral.

Based on Kant’s moral philosophy which states that an action is immoral not by virtue of its consequences but by the actual intentions of the actions. Kant further argued that moral requirements are based on a standard of rationality which he describes as “Categorical Imperative” (CI). In this case immorality will entail a violation of the categorical imperative and is therefore not rational (http://www.uchile.cl/bioetica/doc/honesty.htm).

To be straight to the point, it is clear that we are commanded to exercise our wills in a particular manner and not to do some actions or others. It is therefore categorical in the course of applying to us unreservedly, or merely because we possesses rational wills. This is true because without indication to any ends that we might or might not have (http://www.uchile.cl/bioetica/doc/honesty.htm).

Like his predecessors, Kant argues that moral requirements are based on standards of rationality which are either desire-based instrumental principles of rationality or based on pother rational intuitions.

According to the film the main character acts against his duty of being honest to his clients and the public. This is against his duty to which he is called to. According to Kant, this is the only moral motive. In order to act morally people should to what is right guided by a sense of duty (www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/398707).

To conclude the movie gives us a picture of how people behave during their day to day life. During such times they go about doing things which to them are perceived as moral yet in actual sense do not constitute morality. The philosopher in this case i.e. Kant gives the true picture of what is moral and not moral.

Works cited

• Truth and true professional, available at:  http://www.uchile.cl/bioetica/doc/honesty.htm, assessed on April 6, 2008
• Kant: the moral order, available at: http://www.uchile.cl/bioetica/doc/honesty.htm, assessed on April 6, 2008
• What is the basis of your moral philosophy?, available at: www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/398707 - 65k - assessed on April 6, 2008
• Liar Liar – film review, available at: www.totalfilm.com, assessed on April 6, 2008

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