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What is the Connection between Kant's View on Suicide and his Understanding of the Moral Law?

Date Submitted: 09/10/2006 03:22:38
Category: / Literature
Length: 3 pages (866 words)
In his "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals", Kant puts forward the view that suicide is inconsistent with the idea of humanity as an end in itself, and that ultimately suicide is morally wrong. According to Kant there is one Categorical Imperative, which should act as the supreme principle of morality. Kant highlights the categorical imperative in three different formulations, but emphasises the fact that these formulations essentially state the same thing, and that they …
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…formulation of the categorical imperative, suicide could not be a categorical imperative, but a hypothetical imperative. This means you would not be acting out of duty but only as a way of achieving something else which, according to Kant, goes against our reasoning and against our duties so would not be a moral action. Judged against the categorical imperative and Kant's notion of duty, his ideas on suicide fit in well with his moral law.
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