Treating Persons as Means
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Sometimes treating a person as a means is morally wrong, and the charge that another is treating one merely as a means is an accusation of violating some moral norm. In everyday speech the condemnation that someone is just using people is common, and is leveled against certain practices in human experimentation, employee management, and punishment.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Examine the relation: check whether the person's own judgment was bypassed and their rationality used as a mere instrument for private ends. - Draw the boundary: use consent, reasonable expectation, and reciprocity to tell acceptable cooperation from wrongful transgression.
Anchor fast decisions
The Kantian thought is that rational beings have standing to set ends, and another's action must be rationally acceptable to them. If the agent circumvents or overrides the other's autonomous choice and treats the other's rational capacity purely as an instrument for private ends, that standing is violated; consent, reasonable expectation, and reciprocity can change the character of the relation.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/persons-means/verified
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