Before presenting the categorical imperative, Kant says some things about the value of human beings and morality.
Rachels (2003) says that “Kant thought that human beings occupy a special place in creation. It is an old idea from ancient times, humans have considered themselves to be essentially different from all other creatures-and not just different but better. In fact, humans have traditionally thought themselves to be quite fabulous. Kant certainly did. In his view, human beings have “an intrinsic worth, i.e., dignity,” which makes them valuable’ “above all price.” ”
“When Kant said that the value of human beings “is above all price,” he did not intend this as mere rhetoric but as an objective judgment about the place of human beings in the scheme of things. There are two important facts about people that, in his view, support this judgment. First, because people have desires and ‘goals, other things have value for them, in relation to their projects. Second, and even more important, humans have “an intrinsic worth, i.e., dignity,” because they are rational agents that is, capable of reasoning about his conduct and who freely decides what he will do, on the basis of his own rational conception of what is best.” (Rachels, 2003)
As a human person having the capacity of reason and rationality, Rachels (2003) further states that, “Because the moral law is the law of reason, rational beings are the embodiment of the moral law itself. The only way that moral goodness can