Consumerism Is Justified By Kant, Singer, And Aristotle

Today’s consumerism can be ethically justified using Kant, Singer, and Aristotle; however, people still should donate money to charity. Utilitarian’s, like Signer, believe that people should do everything they can to maximized the happiness of all people. To them, buying everything in sight is ethically wrong because the money could be better spent on helping others. Using Kant and Aristotle, it can be shown that buying lots of items, like in today’s society, can be ethically justified. When Aristotle discusses his views of ethics in â€Å"Virtue Ethics†, he shows that having just the right about of something is virtuous. For example, there is virtue in being brave, but if one is too brave it is a vise. Just as being too cowardly is also a vise. The virtue of bravery lies somewhere in the middle of cowardice and brashness. The same can be said of today’s consumerism. While buying everything and hoarding money is a vice so is giving away too much mon ey to the point that one cannot live. There must be a middle ground in helping others, or else the giver risks turning his virtue into a vice. People can spend money on the things that they wish to spend money on; yet, it is important to note that they should still be giving money to charity. If they fail to do so, they become gluttons and are no longer ethically sound. Same can be said of the people that give away too much money and cannot provide for themselves. They have turned their virtue into the vise of recklessness with