Grounding Of The Metaphysics Of Morals By Immanuel Kant

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In Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant discusses humans as rational beings as they relate to morality in one’s decision making. He proposes that people follow the categorical imperative, a principle that says: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant 30). Kant believes that humans, since they have reason, are able to exercise ethics in every action and towards any person. In doing so, they demonstrate their “intrinsic worth, i.e., dignity” (40). He further observes that everything has a price and dignity. However, humans are the only beings that cannot have a price attached to them. In examining how human beings assign value and how dignity dictates morality, it is evident that Kant believes that putting a price on rational beings is impossible because people are ends in themselves. According to Kant, humans are rational beings who have “wills” that needs to be guided. This “will” is thought of as the faculty that helps humans determine how to act in accordance with moral laws. …show more content…

In pursuing certain “ends”, people will place an increased or decreased value on an object depending on how it can be used as “means” to an end. For instance, if a person wants to learn more about a subject, she will place a higher value on a book with detailed information than a newspaper article. However, if people are ends in themselves, their inherent value does not depend on anything else. Putting a price on a rational being would, in essence, state that her value depends on another rational being. Kant defined an object with a price as something that is a means to an end. A person assigning another rational being a price would therefore mean that that person is a means to an

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