INDIVIDUALS ARE ENDS, NOT MEANS The classical liberal view of the separateness of persons does imply, however, that other people, whether they are bureaucrats or philosophers cannot legitimately make trade-offs between the happiness of different individuals. It is not legitimate to judge that the happiness of one individual may be sacrificed for the happiness of others. Individuals may make personal trade-offs in order to maximise their own happiness, but the same maximising logic cannot be used for trade-offs at the level of society. There is no social entity with a good which undergoes some sacrifice for its own good. We only have individual people, different individuals with their own lives. If we use one of these individuals for the benefit of others, we use her and benefits others. To use a person is this way does not to a sufficient degree respect and take account of the fact that she is a separate person, that her life is the only life she has (Nozick ASU 1974:32-3). Individuals are no resources for others, they are distinct persons with their own ends. We can say that classical liberalism reflects the Kantian idea that individuals must be regarded as ends in themselves, not as means to other people’s ends. We see from this that human happiness cannot be maximized by trading-off the well-being of different individuals, or by sacrificing the utility of one person for the greater good of the collective, On the contrary, it is claimed that human happiness requires that individuals pursue their own personal conceptions of the good life, even of others do not share their view of the value of their choices.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 14:38:42 +0000
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