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Autonomy Guarantee A Person Harmful Oneself To Essay

¶ … autonomy guarantee a person harmful oneself? To ? Explain response ethical rationale. Part the principle of autonomy certainly does not grant an individual the right to harm others. Autonomy may be one of the most fundamental aspects of free will, or is better thought of as the ultimate expression of free will since it is not hampered. However, the autonomous exercise of that free will only exists within the context of other ethical considerations. In particular, Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative is an ethical principle that explicitly denotes that autonomy does not permit the harming of others. Kant's categorical imperative is the belief that there are certain actions or deeds that are innately moral, and that must be followed (Guthrie, 2008). Conversely, there are also some actions and deeds that are fundamentally immoral, and should never be engaged in. This concept relates to the notion that people should not inflict others as an exercise of autonomy because one of the most quintessential examples of a categorical imperative is the proverbial golden rule: that one should do unto others as one wants done...

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Ergo, it is not a proper application of autonomy to harm others because of inherent ethical restrictions in the matter (Hirst, 1934, p. 328).
Additionally, it is well noted that autonomy does not automatically guarantee someone the right to harm oneself. From a strictly theoretical perspective, however, such a practice or proclivity is acceptable and well in the means of autonomy. However, one also must consider the relationships that people have with one another, specifically those in which there are individuals who are dependent upon others. Dependency can take several different forms, from children who are dependent upon parents for food clothing and shelter, to executives who are dependent upon executives and corporations for retirement and benefits packages, as well as salaries. In these cases, it is not acceptable for the individuals who have dependents to wantonly harm themselves, since doing so would ultimately affect others.

There is actually quite a substantial bit of difference between beneficence and non-maleficence. Beneficence is a synonym for…

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Beauchamp, T. (2008). "The Principle of beneficence in applied ethics." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/principle-beneficence/

Guthrie, S.L. (No date). "Immanuel Kant and the categorical imperative." www.sguthrie.net. Retrieved from http://sguthrie.net/kant.htm

Hirst, E.W. (1934). "The categorical imperative and the golden rule." Philosophy. 35 (9): 328-335.

Klempner, G. (2007). "Kant's categorical imperative and the golden rule." www.electronicphilosopher.com. Retrieved from http://electronicphilosopher.blogspot.com/2012/03/kants-categorical-imperative-and-golden.html
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