Persons are not means to ends

I believe that no person should be treated as a means to another's end. Benevolence requires seeing each person as an end in themselves.

Confidence

High

What could disprove it

Show that routinely instrumentalizing people for collective goals produces better moral outcomes than respecting individual ends.

Current support

Using people as tools dehumanizes both victim and user.

Kant's categorical imperative remains a practical guardrail against political cruelty.

Sample: Kant's Formula of Humanity (1785) remains a standard reference in medical ethics and human-subjects research rules.

Supporting resources

Studies, data, books, and references that help express and test this belief.

BookStanford Encyclopedia — Kant's moral philosophy ↗

Categorical imperative: act so that you treat humanity always as an end, never merely as a means.

ArticleInternet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Deontology ↗

Overview of duty-based ethics that forbid using persons as tools for others' goals.