Cheating means to use dishonesty to receive something you do not deserve. Like stealing the answer key to a test and just copying the answers blindly instead of learning the material. Having someone else write as essay you were assigned is a clear example of cheating. It is also an example of lying to professors, but cheating is a more clear term. This isn't like telling a professor you like their shirt when you think it is ugly, this is fraud. If you are caught cheating in college the penalty is at least failing the class and can often lead to being expelled from the school. People caught cheating in law school can be rejected from the Bar (meaning they can't practice law) even if they pass their exams. This is a very serious thing, and I don't want to conflate it with a simple lie.
Can you explain under what circumstances you don't think my reasoning that "Helping someone do something immoral is also immoral" would not hold? And how those circumstances apply to this case?
It would hold or not hold depending on the specifics, what "helping" mean in that case. I could take an extreme case and ask you if the engineers designing the computer that "helped" them cheat are also morally responsible ?
And I don't care about the consequences for the cheater, as long as it doesn't fallback on someone innocent or who did not voluntarily agreed to be part of the scheme
> It would hold or not hold depending on the specifics, what "helping" mean in that case. I could take an extreme case and ask you if the engineers designing the computer that "helped" them cheat are also morally responsible ?
The case we are talking about is the OP, who knowingly helped people cheat. Students asked him to write their essays for them and he did so. This isn't like making a computer that someone could potentially later use to do something immoral, the OP knew in advance what would happen.
Can you explain under what circumstances you don't think my reasoning that "Helping someone do something immoral is also immoral" would not hold? And how those circumstances apply to this case?