Kant's Theory On The Principle Of Humanity

Two hundred years ago, life expectancy for average human beings was 30-40 years. Today, life expectancy in developed countries is between 75-85 years, thanks to medical researchers for their unconventional ongoing research. Humans reached to the moon, always looking out for bigger, better, and reaching for the unreachable. One of the greatest medical research breakthroughs in the 21st century is embryonic stem cells (ES Cell). However, taking cells from an embryo which has a high potential to become a human, and using it in research in order to save human lives to cure diseases like Parkinson’s, heart disease, and diabetes is unethical and immoral based on deontology or Kant’s theory on the principle of humanity.
Sir Martin John Evans is
Such measurement is hard to do: one can’t measure the happiness or usefulness of the results before the action. Because things change and people are different, what brings happiness to one may not be the same for others. The second criticism of utilitarianism is that it takes away the autonomy of the person. Because this theory mainly focuses on greater good to greater number of people it doesn't give importance to personal religious belief, family closeness, and one’s moral values. Utilitarianism would say one’s actions are measured based on the greatest good it brings to the society, which leads to another criticism supererogatory. It demands too much of its moral agents. Such agents would always have to look out for the good of others which would exclude normal obligations like saving one’s
In categorical imperative, “An act is morally acceptable if, and only if, its maxim is universalizable” (Shafer-Landau162). What Kant means here by maxim and universal law is unconditional moral commands: tell the truth, do not kill, do not rape, pay back debts, etc. The fundamental principle for Kant in categorical imperative is that it is unconditional: to tell the truth because it is the right thing to do. There are no two ways about it. Kant never wants to use moral rules as means to an end. One should not tell the truth to avoid punishment, or should not kill because he may be get caught, or should not do good just to feel good. These are examples of moral rules as means to an end. So, Kant comes up with the second formulation, which he calls principle of humanity, “Always treat a human being as an end and never as a means” (Shafer-Landau 174). In this theory, Kant explains in details. Of course, one can’t live without using other people. Humans all use people from time to time. Couples use their partners, children use their parents, teachers use their students, doctors use their patients and vice versa, but this has to be done under two conditions: one, subjects are aware of the end and secondly they agree to it. This is called autonomy; a person has a choice to say yea or