GE-Ethics MWF 12:30-1:30 October 30, 2019

Antolijao, Therese Marie

Fernandez, Paul Kian
Roluna, Shara Monique
Sabusay, Benmar

1. According to Kant’s Categorical Imperative, we should treat humanity as ends and never
as mere means. Based on Kant’s Categorical Imperative, it is ethical to use people, if they
are volunteers, as test subjects because they gave consent to being used as test subjects.
Humans are their own ends, they are rational and autonomous. Humans have the ability
to set their own goals and work toward them. Kant pointed out that using other people is
okay because one way or another, we use other people as a means for something but not
as a mere means. We still recognize their humanity when we use them and they agree to
being used. The volunteers weren’t manipulated for the benefit of the
scientists/researchers. They weren’t lied to for them to volunteer for the experiment. The
volunteers were given the option to make an autonomous decision for themselves
whether to be part of the experiment or not.
2. In the point of view of a member of the ethics committee, I would allow the volunteers to
be used as test subjects because the experiment was conducted for the benefit, of not only
the scientists and researchers, but also for the benefit of the people like the volunteers—
people that are diagnosed with AIDS/HIV. This debunks the assumption that using the
volunteers as test subjects tantamount to using people as mere means. They might be
used as means to accomplish something but they are not used merely for the
accomplishment of that task. Their interest to find for cure, as people with AIDS/HIV,
were considered by the scientists and researchers.