The idea also shows up in discussions of animal rights, with the idea that if they have rights, animals must be treated as ends in themselves. This can be used as an argument against euthanasia, suicide and other behaviours that damage ourselves. His work in philosophy can be divided into two major branches. He comprehends the branch of epistemology which is related to knowledge, ethics, and aesthetics which affects the various aspects of Kantianism and idealism. We shouldn't treat ourselves as a means to our own ends instead we should respect our inherent worth. Immanuel Kant was one of the great philosophers and one of the most prominent thinkers in history. The driving force behind this is human asocial sociality. We say that we don't think that we should use other people, which is a plain English way of saying that we shouldn't treat other people as a means to our own ends. Kant understands culture, not as a break with nature, but as the development of mans specific nature. All our knowledge begins with the senses. Most of us agree with that - though we don't put it so formally. Immanuel Kant Quotes Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play. Kant argued that we can only have knowledge of things we can experience. If a person is an end-in-themself it means their inherent value doesn't depend on anything else - it doesn't depend on whether the person is enjoying their life, or making other people's lives better. Immanuel Kant At the foundation of Kant’s system is the doctrine of transcendental idealism, which emphasizes a distinction between what we can experience (the natural, observable world) and what we cannot (supersensible objects such as God and the soul). The fact that we are human has value in itself. He made pivotal contributions to the study of ethics and epistemology. The philosopher Immanuel Kant said that rational human beings should be treated as an end in themselves and not as a means to something else. Kant was a German philosopher who taught for many years at the University of Koenigsberg.

The word 'end' in this phrase has the same meaning as in the phrase 'means to an end'.

Immanuel kant philosophy