Immanuel Kant And Suicide Essay

The end of life process is a scary one. There are situations where people who have a terminal illness are in hospice for months, in severe pain, and sadly awaiting death. There are some countries, states, and groups of people who believe that letting a person die a slow painful death is immoral. Due to these people’s point of view, euthanasia and physicians assisted suicide have become a topic of interest. However, because both of these are still ultimately suicide, Immanuel Kant would not have believed in it. Kant’s theory was that of deontology, meaning that whether or not our actions are right or wrong does not matter. What matters is if our actions fulfill out duty or not. Henceforth, ending one’s life prematurely is against deontology

It is an ethical theory that disregards the importance of consequences and focuses only on the rightness or wrongness of the act itself. Rosenstand shows this by showing what Kant believed was a good character, “For Kant, a good character in the form of a good will, a fundamental respect for other people, and respect for the nature of the moral law itself is essential to the moral decision process” (Rosentstand pg. 397 & 398). Well, what is the moral law? The moral law is an absolute principle defining the criteria of right action. To better explain, this is all a part of ethical relativism, The Moral of the Story an Introduction to Ethics says, “Kantian deontology wants to do the right thing, but is so focused on duty that it may overlook bad consequences of doing one’s duty- consequences that otherwise could have been avoided” (Rosentstand, pg. 575). Some people may die in the line of duty and be honored, however, those who remove themselves from their duty are viewed as having shamed their family and country. For example, what if the person who is dying that chose euthanasia was going to experience a miracle and talking of their miracle was their duty. This choice, was not for the good of all, it was for the good of an