Rachels, Ch 10: Kant and Respect For Persons

• Humanity as special and unique
• Humans are essentially different
• And better than all other creatures
• Humans have:
• An intrinsic worth (intrinsic value)
• A dignity
• A value above all price
• An absolute value not comparable to the value of anything else
• In contrast, animals are a mere means to human ends
• They have no intrinsic value
• Animals value is merely instrumental value toward human ends
• Humans may not be treated as having merely instrumental value
• While using animals for human ends is perfectly appropriate
• Using humans as a (mere) means to an end is immoral
• This is the essence of immorality
• The essence of moralilty is treating people as ends and never means only

• Reasons humans are special
  
• One: Creators of the value of other things
• Because of our desires and goals, other things have value for us, in relation to our projects
• Mere things (including animals-who Kant felt can't have self-conscious desires and goals) have value only in relation to human ends.
• Their value involves being means to human ends, and this gives them their value (instrumental value)
  • E.g., value of car or chair dependent on its ability to serve some end of human beings
• Problem: Animal desires can also create instrumental value in other things:
• Dog wants the bone or the water, that gives the bone or water instrumental value; so dogs are creators of value of other things
• Even non-conscious beings like trees can create instrumental value: Water has instrumental value for the tree; it is good for the tree to get water
  
• Two: Humans are rational agents who have dignity (intrinsic worth) because we can:
• Freely make own decisions
• Set own goals
• Guide our conduct by reason
• Act morally
• It is probably true that animals only do these things at a rudimentary level
  
• Three: Humans (as rational agents) bring moral value into the world
• Moral law is a law of reason so rational beings are the embodiment of moral law
• Only way moral goodness can exist in the world is for rational creatures to apprehend what they should do and do it from a sense of duty
• Only acting out of respect for duty has moral worth
  • Action out of desire has no moral worth on Kant's view
• So if there were no rational beings, moral dimension of world would simply disappear
• Unless one thinks animals can act out of a sense of moral obligation or duty, it seems true that humans alone bring this type of value into the world
  
  
• 2nd Version of Cat Imp (the ultimate principle of morality)
• The 1^st version was: Act only on principles that you could universalize
• Always treat humanity as an end and never as a mere means
• "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only."
• This means:
• Have a strict duty of beneficence toward other persons
• Must strive to promote their welfare
• Must respect their rights
• Must avoid harming them
• Must try as best we can to further their ends
  
• Treating humans as ends-in-themselves = respecting their rationality
• Thus should never manipulate people
• Or use people (without their consent) to achieve our purposes (no matter how good those purposes may be)
• Note the rejection of utilitarian (and consequentialist) thinking

• Promise Example:
• Make a lying promise (to repay a loan you won't be able to repay) to achieve purpose you deem good
• But this is to use that person for your goals/ends
• You are using him as a means only
• If you told the person the truth, then she can decide for herself if those ends are worth it to her
• She can make up her own mind
• She can make the goal/purpose her own, if she chooses
• Thus you are respecting that person's rationality and freedom, and letting their own ends determine what happens to them