Immanuel Kant Reciprocity

As children, the majority of us were taught some version of the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” While commonly, this virtue is credited to biblical teachings that appear in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12, it is actually a universal notion that emerges throughout multiple cultures, religions, and philosophical ideas. This rule, known collectively as the ethics of reciprocity, appears in Buddhism as “hurt not others with that which pains yourself,” in Judaism as, “though shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” and in other variations throughout Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism. It is important to note, however, that ethics of reciprocity are not only present in religious contexts. Great Philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Thomas Jefferson (in his words in the Declaration of Independence), were all also proponents of the golden rule. …show more content…
Kant not only speaks of acting only in accordance of action that are permissible as universal law, but he also stresses the importance and uniqueness of the categorical imperative, which he defines as an imperative “which [represents] an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to another end” (Kant 25). His objections toward the golden rule include the fact that it does not give a reason why people should act morally, and that it also does not guarantee mutual behavior in cases where the are strict obligations (Guseinov 92). According to Kant, the categorical imperative should be able to be applied to a situation to give a universal ground for morality. In this essay, Kantian ethics will be applied to the situation of buying and selling organs online, as opposed to the traditional condition of donating organs to people on a waiting