Mill vs. Kant

Summary Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are philosophers who addressed the issues of morality in terms of how moral traditions are formed. Immanuel Kant has presented one viewpoint in The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals that is founded on his belief that the worth of man is inherent in his ability to reason. John Stuart Mill holds another opinion as presented in the book, Utilitarianism that is seemingly contradictory with the thoughts of …

…categorical and therefore, not moral. However, Kant cannot expect that we never act contrary to someone's will because this could not be followed in a situation where wills conflict. It might be closer to Kant's idea to interpret him as requiring persons always to respect others as capable of acting for principles, and thus ably prepared to restrain our actions towards others if they or we could not will our maxim to be universal law.