Alan Soble’s article “Sexual Use and What to do about It

875 Words2 Pages

Kant’s second formulation is the formula of the end in itself, sometimes referred to as the principle of respect for persons. This formulation states that individuals need to treat the humanity or self as an end and not a means to an end. Treating people to an end means, respecting other people as moral agents with goals and projects to pursue in their lives. Kant’s second formulation states that an individual should never treat other people the same way as they treat inanimate objects. Kant offers a definition of sexual desires and sexual use in the metaphysics of morals in consistency with his moral system. Sex has moved away from the patriarchal conception of it where the rape victims claim to have exclusive rights, which has replaced Kantian conceptions in ideas of sexual objectification, and the dominance of consent in distinguishing between the acceptable an unacceptable morality. It is true that humans have to engage in sexual acts for procreation.

Kant’s own solution to the sexual problem is that sexual activity is permissible only in the context of heterosexual, monogamous lifelong marriage. In this case, Kant’s solution to the problem is a thick externalism that is minimalist. Howard Williams made a shrewd observation on Kant’s solution that the most significant of Kant’s argument involves treating oneself and their partners as objects. Therefore, this clearly, demonstrate that marriage is the only ethical desirable context for sex, Kant should start from better premise than the claims that sexual activities are restricted to marriage.

There are two proposed solutions to the problem, the internalist solution and the externalist solution. Furthermore, the internalist resolutions offer advice on the modification of the character of sexual activity so that the individuals engaging in the sexual activity conform to Kant’s Second Formulation. In this

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