Kant s Categorical Imperative For The Practice Of Modern...

Hamza Rafique 15 June 2014 Should Kant’s categorical imperative be supported in the practice of modern medicine? Introduction Immanuel Kant saw the importance of autonomy long before the field of medicine was as advanced as it is now through the second formulation of his categorical imperative: â€Å"Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end†. Kant recognises that it is autonomy that allows for self-actualisation and the manifestation of one’s identity through having the capacity to make self-governed choices. Therefore autonomy factor that gives humans the duty to treat each other as â€Å"ends† and to violate the†¦show more content†¦Kant provides us with these ethical guidelines however there are cases in medicine which illustrate that a physician’s expertise allows him to see that following a patient’s autonomous decision may lead to further suffering causing the health professional to take a paternalistic course of action. This e thical problem has lead me to investigate whether medical practice should uphold Kant’s categorical imperative, and if not where should we search for a way forward? I intend to analyse Kant’s ethics to see where its strengths and weaknesses lie when applied to the medical field before exploring other ethical theories in an attempt to find the most suitable means of decision making in medicine. I will use case studies to illustrate the point that Kant’s ethics, although perfect for an ideal world, does not work in the medical field, nor does a utilitarian approach. This leads us toward an intuitionist stance in order to keep the benefits of the categorical imperative offers us while maintaining applicability to medicine. How could the categorical imperative work in medicine? The categorical imperative does have strength in its principled and high minded nature that can be condensed down into the following three formulations: Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.† â€Å"Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in