The film Gone Baby Gone is a story about a kidnapped little girl and her unfortunate mother. The film is about priorities, choices and the consequences. The characters are forced to make burdensome decisions, and the most controversial is the last one. However, the final action of the film and Patrick Kenzie’s decision fully correspond to Kant's moral philosophy and the categorical imperative.

According to the "First Maxim", a person must act in a way that other people will follow in similar circumstances. If to apply the postulate to the decision of the private investigator to return the girl to her mother, he acts according to the legal and moral law. Undoubtedly, he faced a moral dilemma between his duty and the child's guaranteed well-being; he chose the first. Wassmer and Palla write that “Kant considers all inclinations other than that duty as morally irrelevant” (213). Thus, the duty is moral by definition, so Kenzie acted within the "First Maxim".

The "Second Maxim" suggests that a person is the highest value. Greenberg claims that “everyone has in a given situation subject to moral judgment the incentive to do what is moral for its own sake —for the sake of duty” (117). The private investigator satisfied the desire of any child to be with their mother, regardless of the way of her life. He acts morally and in accordance with his duty.

The "Third Maxim" states that a person must act according to the norms that could become a universal law and are humane. Altman reiterates that “the absolute worth of humanity restricts how we can be treated by others and how we can treat ourselves” (41). The investigator decided that his duty is to act within the framework of legal regulations. Such actions serve as an example for others, since they are moral and legitimate at the same time.

Thus, despite the duality of the decision, it remains correct within the categorical imperative. Moral and legal actions can serve as a universal example. The final decision is also an example of the correct solution to a moral dilemma. In the movie, the hero observes the instructions of morality, duty, and law.

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