Answer to Question #96693 in Philosophy for Ian

Question

The two most important questions we need answers to from Kant are these: (1) What does it look like when an act is inconsistent with Duty (i.e. an act which can't be a Universal law)? and (2) What does it look like when an act is inconsistent with treating a being as an End-in-Itself (i.e. an act which violates a being's Autonomy).

Answer 1

(1) According to Kant the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their consequences but on whether they fulfill our duty. If an act is inconsistent with Duty, then it is immoral.

(2) Kant states the Formula of the End in Itself as follows: Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end. If an act is inconsistent with treating a being as an End-in-Itself, then it is also immoral.