1. Morality can only be judged with respect to particular situations; within standards of particular belief systems and socio-historical contexts. This position is known as moral relativism.
According to moral relativism, moral judgments are considered true or false only relative to a particular situation and that no situation is privileged over others. This is often associated with other morality claims.
2. Corruption is a contemporary moral issue in our society.
Applying the ethics theory by Immanuel Kant to judge Corruption:
Corruption is the fraudulent conduct by those in authority, which typically involves bribery. Viewing corruption from the perspective of Kantian ethics theory sheds light on various dark corners of this social evil. Immanuel Kant's theory is a deontological ethical theory, which states the rightness or wrongness of a person’s actions is not dependent on their consequences, rather on the fulfillment of duties. In his opinion, there was a supreme principle of morality, which he referred to as The Categorical Imperative. The categorical imperative states that something is good in itself. He further states that you should not do anything that could not be universalized into a law of nature. According to him, perfect duties are those which do not allow exceptions while imperfect duties don’t always need to be followed in one way. These points can be examined in relation to corruption.
a) The rightness and wrongness of action/corruption: The rightness or wrongness of a person’s corruption is not dependent on the consequences of the act for which corruption was done, rather on the fulfillment of duties. The fulfillment of duty requires the person to do the duty without being corrupt.
b) The Categorical Imperative: The categorical imperative states that something is good in itself. In the case of corruption, a quid pro quo, or bribery, there is nothing good in itself. That means duty is good in itself without corruption. This is considered as the supreme principle of morality.
c) You should not do anything that could not be universalized into a law of nature: Corruption cannot be universalized into law of nature, it is a crime. This is against the law and obligation to do one's own duty. Duty can be universalized, but corruption can never be as it is illegal.
d) Perfect duties are those which do not allow exceptions: Corruption always allows exceptions. So it is imperfect. For example, in the case of doing duty as a quid pro quo, the person wants a favor in return for doing a duty, for which an exception is considered and is done. The grandeur of duty comes down to a quid pro quo action. Thus it becomes an imperfect duty, which doesn't always need to be followed in the same way.
TION 26 Morality can only be judged with respect to particular situations, within the standards of...