Immanuel Kant

and the Ethics of Duty

Lawrence M. Hinman, Ph.D.

niversity of San Diego Director, The Values Institute

10/17/08 ©Lawrence M. Hinman 1

 Overview:
The Ethics of Respect
One of Kant’s
most lasting
contributions to
moral philosophy
was his emphasis on
the notion of respect
(Achtung)

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 Introduction

■ Respect has become a fundamental moral

concept in contemporary America
– Rodney Dangerfield
– “Don’t dis’ me.”
– There are rituals of respect in almost all
cultures.
■ Two central questions:
– What is respect?
– Who or what is the proper object of respect?
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 Kant on Respect
■ “Act in such a way that
you always treat
humanity, whether in
your own person or in
the person of any other,
never simply as a
means, but always at
the same time as an
end.”

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 Kant on Respecting Persons
■ Kant brought the notion of respect
(Achtung) to the center of moral
philosophy for the first time.
■ To respect people is to treat them as ends
in themselves. He sees people as
autonomous, i.e., as giving the moral law
to themselves.
■ The opposite of respecting people is
treating them as mere means to an end.

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 Using People as Mere Means
■ The Tuskegee Syphilis
Experiments
– More than four hundred
African American men
infected with syphilis
went untreated for four
decades in a project
the government called
the Tuskegee Study of
Untreated Syphilis in
the Negro Male.
– Continued until 1972

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 Treating People as Ends in
Themselves

What are the characteristics of treating

people as ends in themselves?
■ Not denying them relevant
information
■ Allowing them freedom of choice

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 Additional Cases
■ Plant Closing
■ Firing Long-Time Employees
■ Medical Experimentation on
Prisoners
■ Medical Donations by Prisoners
■ Medical Consent Forms

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 What Is the Proper Object of
Respect?
■ For Kant, the proper object of respect is
the will. Hence, respecting a person
involves issues related to the will--
knowledge and freedom.
■ Other possible objects of respect:
– Feelings and emotions
– The dead
– Animals
– The natural world
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 Self-Respect

Is lack of proper self-respect a moral

failing?
■ The Deferential Wife
– See article by Tom Hill, “Servility and
Self-Respect”
■ Servants
– See movie of Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains
of the Day
• Stevens the servant: "I don't believe a man
can consider himself fully content until he
has done all he can to be of service to his
employer."
■ Aristotle and Self-Love
– What is the difference between self-
respect and self-love? Clearly, there is at
least a difference in the affective element.

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 Respect in the Classroom

■ What does it mean to respect students?

– Are there any common classroom practices
that you see as disrespectful of students?
■ What does it mean to respect teachers?
– Are there any common school practices that
you find are disrespectful to teachers?

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 Conclusion

■ Respect for other people (including

not using other people as a means)
remains a key concept in
contemporary moral philosophy.

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