Treating persons as means

Abstract

Treating someone merely as a means, or “using” them, is often considered morally wrong. This idea permeates discussions about research on human subjects, management of employees, criminal punishment, terrorism, pornography, and surrogate motherhood. However, treating others as means is frequently morally permissible in everyday situations like waiting tables, students learning from professors, and vice versa. Determining when “using” someone is wrong has been a philosophical puzzle since Kant, with proposed conditions often clashing with common understanding. Kantian ethics, for instance, prohibits treating people as means, even if it promotes the overall good, as in the case of a surgeon extracting organs from an unwilling donor. While Kant argues this prohibition is absolute, it raises questions about the plausibility of deeming all actions that treat people as means inherently wrong, especially when considering everyday interactions.