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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Kant's Formula of Humanity prohibits treating persons merely as means, but differential valuation by merit structurally reduces persons to their instrumental properties.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Valuing merit does not reduce persons to instrumental properties; it recognizes that exercising capacities is constitutive of human dignity and flourishing.
      ?

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    • 2.Differential reward based on merit can coexist with unconditional respect for human worth—one concerns distributive justice, the other concerns basic dignity.
      ?

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    • 3.Rejecting merit-based evaluation doesn't prevent treating people as means; poorly-designed egalitarian systems often ignore individual agency and choice.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Merit-based systems concentrate benefits on instrumental capacities (productivity, credentials), making those lacking such capacities invisible to moral consideration.
      ?

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    • 2.When institutions value persons primarily for measurable outputs, they logically discard individuals whose worth cannot be quantified or instrumentally leveraged.
      ?

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    • 3.Kant's Formula requires treating persons as ends-in-themselves; merit systems treat persons as conditional ends, contingent on performance.
      ?

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