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    Kant's Formula of Humanity grounds dignity in rational na... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Equal moral status can be grounded in the all-or-nothing capacity for reflective self-authorship even if individuals exercise this capacity to varying degrees in practice.

    Kant's Formula of Humanity grounds dignity in rational nature as an end, but Korsgaard and Parfit show this generates scalar, not binary, attributions of moral status.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Rational capacities admit degrees: some beings have greater autonomy, self-awareness, or future planning than others.
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    • 2.If dignity derives from rational nature, and rational nature varies in degree, then moral status must scale accordingly.
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    • 3.Korsgaard and Parfit's scalar view better explains our intuitions about marginal cases than binary all-or-nothing Kantian status.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Kant's Formula of Humanity requires treating rational agents as ends *in themselves*—a categorical status immune to degree.
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    • 2.Distinguishing between minimal rational capacity (sufficient for dignity) and fuller rationality avoids conflating two separate concepts.
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    • 3.Scalar moral status entails that severely cognitively impaired humans warrant less consideration than intellectually typical humans, which violates equal dignity.
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    Rights & Liberty1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    Distinguishing between minimal rational capacity (sufficient for dignity) and fu...Equal moral status can be grounded in the all-or-nothing capacity for reflective...If dignity derives from rational nature, and rational nature varies in degree, t...Kant's Formula of Humanity requires treating rational agents as ends *in themsel...
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    Korsgaard and Parfit's scalar view better explains our intuitions about marginal...Rational capacities admit degrees: some beings have greater autonomy, self-aware...Scalar moral status entails that severely cognitively impaired humans warrant le...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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