PHIL 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 76: J. David Velleman, Kantian Ethics
15 May 2017
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People often do not obey the universality of the categorical imperative, but turn it into a loose generality that they make exceptions to (when it suits them) Nobody says that it is okay to lie. Perhaps the wrongness of violating the categorical imperative becomes more clear in its second formulation by kant. Act so that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end. Things have values for us because they serve as means in acquiring what we consider desirable, and for no other reason. For example, a car has value to me when i want to travel, it has no value outside its purpose of fulfilling my desires/needs. People have value beyond serving our purpose because they are rational agents and not things.
