(October 15, 2013 at 8:07 pm)FallentoReason Wrote: So going back to Boru's aliens + 5 y.o. example, you *would* torture the 5 y.o? Answering "yes" would be going against Kant's reasoning.
Not quite. Kant's reasoning is that the 5 year old's agency should be considered off-limits as a Categorical Imperative. Meaning, it is unconditional and under no conditions would the answer be "yes". My reply is that under normal conditions - which is all I can assume right now - the answer would be "no". But the answer is not an unconditional "no". Suppose the 5-year old happens to have sufficient maturity to qualify for a fully functional moral agent and suppose he has himself violated the principle of "non-compromise of moral agency of others" many times in the past, in that case, my answer would be "yes".
