How do you know right from wrong? This question is a doozy.. This may be one of the hardest questions in life right in line behind “what is the meaning of life?”.
In most cases the right thing to do is obvious and the wrong things are even more obvious but I’m starting to have to grapple with the fact that some things might be wrong even if they don’t seem like it at first glance.
I would make an argument that the challenging nature of these questions are, in large part, why religions exist. There is a reason almost every culture and civilization has some type of belief system that guides their action and tells them right from wrong so they don’t have to figure it out for themselves.
Over time these systems have been updated, augmented and evolved in an organic or natural way. We eventually got a line of moral philosophers that would take on these big questions and contribute their own views and twists into the fold. You could spend a lifetime studying or learning about any one of these frameworks but unfortunately, I don’t have the time for that.
To date, I’ve taken most of my ethical cues from Sam Harris and his ideas. He tends to provide a modern distillation of ancient wisdom combined with the insights of the various other influential moral philosophers. Thanks to him and Jordan Peterson I’ve come to my ONE current ethical rule “don’t lie” and that’s basically it for me. Other than that, I just do what I want and am lucky enough to not want to do most of the things that people would consider bad or wrong. Looking out for my own well being keeps me from doing wrong for the most part.
However, I’ve recently stumbled upon the ideas of Immanuel Kant and to be honest, I’m shook. To make a long story short, I’m considering adding a new rule to my ethical hall of fame.
“Always treat others as ends in themselves, never merely as means to your own ends.”
This basically means that you can’t use people. It might seem simple or obvious but the devil is in the details.
If you’re like me, you immediatly ask, “Well, would it be wrong to ask someone to help you complete a task that you can’t do yourself?”. For example. If my “end” was getting my desk into the car and I need help so I ask my brother.. doesn’t that make him a “means” to my “end” of getting the desk in the car?
Apparently not. Like I said earlier… you could study, philosophize and debate this stuff for a lifetime and that’s basically what Kant did for half of his life. For my purposes, I hopped on chatGPT and proceeded to ask it all my questions and test different scenarios. What I’ve found is that, according to Kant, respecting someone’s autonomy and consent counts as treating them as an “end in themselves”. So in that way, ASKING for favors is ok as long as you are presenting the ask in an accurate and honest way.
Interestingly, when I ran through various example scenarios of this rule on chatGPT, I found that most of them involve some form of lying or deceit. Other than that, it seems like this rule just covers your basic wrongs like theft and violence. However, there are some versions of taking advantage of someone’s generosity that seem to be a shade of wrong. Being a professional mental gymnast myself, it seems a bit difficult to know where to draw the line there.. luckily, in this process I’ve discovered some other prominent ethical frameworks that I’ll be looking into and exploring in the future. Maybe I’ll find more answers there. (chatGPT is an excellent resource for this kind of learning too).
Anyways.. Weirdly, this new idea was so striking to me and the implications felt so consequential. But, when I really dug into the example scenarios and tried to evaluate how it will change my behaviors or inform my decisions going forward it’s difficult to put my finger on specific examples. So why are these ideas so interesting and arresting to me?
My guess is that it’s because of the mindset shift that they’ve kicked off. I don’t go around life thinking about and viewing others as “ends” and being careful to make sure they are treated as ‘ends’. This way of thinking colors the world in a fundamentally different way for me. A world that looks different will inevitably inspire different actions and I think that’s where I’m going to experience the power of these ideas.
This especially comes into play when thinking about my music/art and relationship to my listeners and fans. I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought of or treated fans or consumers of my content as “means”…means to get views, means to get money, means to get clout, exposure or whatever. I’m doing this less and less by the day but it’s a real corner that I’m turning and I definitely never considered it to be wrong (as I do now).
Rather than conceptualizing what I do in this way:
Content > Consumer (means) > Personal Reward (end)
I’m aiming for:
Following my path > Content (means) > Consumer value (ends)
Interestingly, the reason that Kant puts forward as to WHY people should be treated as “ends” is the fact that we possess high rationality. He says that this makes us unique and special. I think you could argue this point ‘till kingdom come but regardless of that, it seems that action based in this belief yields fruit and that’s good enough for me.
I have to mention that it’s funny to me how this just echoes some of the fundamental principles in Christianity like “You’re made in the image of God”. In my opinion, most religions come to the same ideas and principles.. just in different or unique ways. All roads lead to Rome, as they say.
There is a whole other area of pertinence here which is: when and how you may be using YOURSELF as a “means” to an “end” of pleasure or hedonism. For me, that’s mainly applicable to my relationship with social media and I’ll be working through that and other lifestyle changes in subsequent posts.
In closing, I’d like to explore one more of Kant’s ideas that really struck me. It’s the idea that the only way to improve the world is by improving yourself. This is music to my ears because I can see how developing my mind and body will allow me to have more of an impact in whatever I do. It can be difficult to care for myself and prioritize my health sometimes but the idea that it’s for the betterment of the world just makes it easier. At the end of the day life is confusing and difficult. Most people need someone to lead them and help show them the way. I’d like to carry some of that weight if I can. Developing wisdom and virtue is obviously mandatory.
Lastly, I’d like to share the video that sparked all of this for me. It’s a super condensed and easy to understand version of Kant’s ideas and I’d highly recommend it!
As always, I’m happy to receive feedback, advice or to just have a conversation about any of the topics on this blog! Don’t hesitate to comment or reach out via social media
(@danny_suede on all platforms)
I’m glad you’re here and thanks for reading <3
Every post is better than the last one. 💙
I read “Lying” by Sam Harris last year and absolutely changed my life. I think it’s a ‘must read’ for everyone. Lying has been normalised by so many people, and at some point in my life I started to think that lying was “okay” because everybody else was doing it, even if it was just small things like making a story about why you couldn’t attend to some party.
Since I read that essay I started to be conscious about that type of situations and started telling the truth. It’s definitely difficult but I always try to remember why I’m doing it and it’s totally worth it. I've seen a very positive change in my relationships with everyone, not matter how close or not the person is to me.
Now, the topic about improving yourself so you can improve the world is so beautiful! I love that topic, and is something that I have been hearing for years, but I didn’t fully understand it until I started to meditate in 2018. In one meditation the teacher was explaining why some people (mostly people pleasing) struggle to meditate, and the teacher said that even if meditating was doing something for yourself of course, it was also affecting in a positive way to everyone around you, so you are doing it not just for yourself, and that is such a beautiful way to change the world.
Thank you so much for sharing this, if you have another reading recommendations by Sam Harris (or another writers) please tell me. 🦋