Mill's Formula Of Humanity Of Ksm And Utilitarianism

A male terrorist, by the name of KSM, attacks the United States causing Americans to swarm crazy in fear. With KSM in custody, it is now the government officials’ responsibility to retrieve information from KSM in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. When brought into custody, the CIA also brought in KSM’s children. Coming up with strategies on how to get KSM to talk, the idea of torturing his children as leverage presented itself. When reacting to KSM’s terrorist attack, John Stuart Mill, a British Philosopher and a Utilitarian, would most likely torture the children in order to retrieve information about KSM’s terrorist group which would prevent future terrorist attacks and protect the happiness of the greater good of society. Although …show more content…
Kant’s Formula of Humanity claims that one cannot use another human being as a tool to achieve a goal. In the Transition from Popular Morality to a Metaphysics of Morals on page 36, Kant states, “Man,…, is not a thing and hence is not something to be used as a means…”. While the danger lies in the risk of more terrorist attacks, Kant still believes that people should not be used as disposable tools to retrieve information about KSM’s terrorist group. Retraining from using the children as tools to get information about KSM’s terrorist group to prevent further terrorist attacks, the children will also be kept safe away from physical or mental torture. Considering the definite moral set by Kant’s Formula of Humanity, the option to torture the children in exchange for secrets about KSM would be ethically wrong because one would be using the children as a tool, like a hammer or a rock, to retrieve information about the KSM tourist …show more content…
I would say that Kant’s Formula of Humanity is a lot more straightforward than Mill’s Utilitarian theory. Considering Mill’s Utilitarian theory, it can be very confusing to watch someone base all of their life decisions off of societal happiness because it takes away from individualized empathy. Everyone deserves to be respected and treated with dignity. If people continuously sacrifice people’s respect and dignity for the greater good of society, there will be no room for individual expression of feelings or thoughts because all that would matter is the great good of society. n the other hand, Kant’s Formula of Humanity sets boundaries by stating the improper way to treat people; and, by establishing this boundary, Kant directly tells people that people, and in my opinion especially children, should not be treated as tools to complete goals and that’s why I agree with