How a Kantian would respond to euthanasia
Kant was one of the greatest philosophers of the modern era. He used the idea of having a moral duty to help us work out what to do in an ethical dilemma, such as euthanasia, and taught that to make a moral decision when considering the maxim, one would have to use three formulations of the Categorical Imperative:
1. The formula of the law of nature. This contains two main parts:
The contradiction in conception- If you cannot possibly imagine everyone else doing the action, don't do it.
The contradiction of the will. When you imagine the world with everyone performing the maxim, question if you would like to live there. "Act only to the maxim whereby you can at the same time imagine that it will become a universal law"-Kant
2. The formula of End in itself. This if the concept that one should never treat others as ends, and as a means to an end. It is a person's duty to never use people without considering their autonomy as in the view of Kant, using another person to gain happiness for yourself is morally wrong.
3. The formula of a kingdom of ends. This is the idea that one should be able to judge the morality of a maxim by acting as if they are one of the law makers in the 'Kingdom of ends'-an imagined idealistic place where everyone is treated with respect and there is no wrong doing. If you cannot possibly imagine making the maxim a universal law in the Kingdom of Ends, do not do it.
Kant stated that one should go through these formulas in order, and if the ethical dilemma contradicts one of them, they must stop and the action is morally wrong.
When we consider euthanasia in the three formulations, it would be considered as morally wrong as it contradicts the first formulation. Firstly, if we imagine a world where everyone is getting assisted suicide and willingly putting a person's life down, it would be a very unhappy place. Countless amounts of people would be dying and it would destroy families and many other people's lives. Therefore, a Kantian would undoubtedly respond to euthanasia as being immoral.