Ethics: Plagiarism.

According to Kant, nothing ever exempts a man from his moral duty. Sandra LaFave summarized Kant's definition of what makes a bad act, bad, perfectly, and I wouldn't word it any other way:

"Kant analyzes evil as a kind of logical error, or mistake in reasoning. A contradiction is the worst logical error. It would obviously be a contradiction for a rational being to say “Every rational being should do X, except me.” Contradiction of this form is called special pleading. When rational beings will to do bad things, they want a contradiction: they want everybody else to do the right thing, because that's exactly what makes their wrongdoing possible. For example, the liar wants everyone else to tell the truth; if everyone lied, no one would believe the liar's lie. So the liar in effect is willing a contradiction: “Every rational being should tell the truth, except me.” This is special pleading: wanting the rule to apply to everyone AND not to me. Such a contradiction is a failure of universality."

With that being said - would you recommend that everyone should cheat? -- or is it "different" when you do it?

Do not make an exception to a rule that you think everyone else should follow.

Consider:

• It means that other who worked hard, diligently and actually thought out their assignments are being robbed by other students who copy/paste and may get a better grade, since it's from a professional standpoint.

• It's too easy. It teaches you nothing, and it garnishes undeserved credit.

• It hampers the lessons you are supposed to learn leading to more failure later.

• People deserve money for all of their research, you cannot just lift it directly, you are allowed to make reference and take ideas however, but a direct lift is just theft.


And consider this thought carefully, as well: Not only is this harmful to the person from whom you are stealing, but it is also harmful to the thief. If you plagiarize another author's work, you risk your credibility as an author and your reputation for originality and honesty. Also, plagiarism is against the law and you are also risking control of your finances, should a lawsuit result in a judgment against you. Also risked is your freedom should you be convicted of the crime of plagiarism and sentenced to time in jail or prison.

The entire point of creating something is to express YOUR thoughts; YOUR opinions; YOUR ideas; YOUR vision about something. Plagiarism is lifting someone else's. You miss the opportunity to express yourself -- which, again, is the entire point of creativity.

It's stealing of intellectual property.