So the maxims which should guide our actions should be maxims which could be universally accepted by a community of perfectly rational humans. When we act, we should act from maxims which could conceivably legislate within a realm in which all individuals are able to pursue both the ends relating to their desires and inclinations, and the ends which are demanded by their duties.
Examples of Kantian Ethics in Practice
In order to fully understand Kantian ethics, it’s useful to consider how Kantian principles might be applied to particular situations. A note that these illustrations are based solely on Kant’s own writings. More contemporary Kantian ethicists have further refined Kant’s theory, resulting in slightly different interpretations of applied Kantianism.
Torture
The ‘ticking time bomb’ scenario, made famous by Henry Shue (Shue, 1978) is often used in discussions surrounding the moral permissibility or impermissibility of torture.
In this scenario, a person has knowledge of an impending terrorist attack. The attack will kill many people. This person is being held by the police. If they provide the authorities with information about the attack, it can be prevented, saving lives - but the only way they will divulge the information is if they are tortured.
The question is - should they be tortured?
Typically, for an adherent of consequentialism, the answer is yes - as many lives lost is a quantifiably worse outcome than one individual being tortured. And outcomes are what determine whether an action is morally right or wrong.
But it’s generally understood that Kant would say the answer is no. We have a perfect duty to others which prohibits torture, as to torture somebody to prevent a negative outcome is a paradigmatic instance of treating somebody’s humanity as a means, rather than an end in itself. And as perfect duties are unconditional, to torture the terrorist would be morally wrong - even if it would save lives.
Assisted Suicide
Another area of moral debate which can illustrate the application of Kantian Ethics is assisted suicide.
In ‘Kant and Applied Ethics’, Matthew C. Altman explains that Kant would not permit assisted suicide. Altman suggests that ‘the terminally ill patient who chooses to die tacitly commits himself to the idea that the value of his life depends on how much pain or pleasure he experiences.’ This links back to Kant’s discussion of our perfect duty to ourselves to refrain from suicide, in which he argues that self-love is typically the motive in suicide. Altman writes that, according to Kant,