“Treat people as an end,
and never a
means to an end.” 
Immanuel Kant

Since November 1998, when I first visited Nagasaki, Japan as part of a student exchange program I coordinated, I have had the opportunity to assist countless Japanese students, teachers, and others to better understand spoken English. Schools in Japan do an excellent job of teaching written English beginning in junior high school. Unfortunately, the lack of native English speakers teaching English in Japan often results in the spoken language being much more challenging for students to learn. It was for this reason that our student exchange program was created.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the English language for me to share was the challenge of helping students to understand idioms. I can only imagine what must be going through the minds of non-English speaking learners when they hear such phrases as “She’s under the weather today,” “You drive, and I’ll ride shotgun,” or “It’s raining cats and dogs!” To take statements such as these literally simply doesn’t make sense.

Though not quite as visually imaginative, there is an idiom that is used quite freely in our country which, if taken literally, would be unintelligible to many: “a means to an end.”  

This idiom refers to something which is a way of reaching a goal or achieving something one wants. Volunteering to do grunt work in a law office could be a means to an end if it provides a pathway for the person to enter the legal profession. I would think that most minor league baseball players would consider their years at that level to be a means to an end — hoping to ultimately play for a professional baseball team. Going to college is also a means to an end.

It may be acceptable, and even wise, to invest one’s time and energy in a venture which is only a means to an end. In such cases, the means to an end becomes the stepping stone to achieving one’s desired goal. German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who would celebrate his 300th birthday in April this year, had no issues with the concept of individuals using actions as a means to an end. He was adamant, however, that people must never be used in such a way.

Kant wrote, “Every man is to be respected as an absolute end in himself; and it is a crime against the dignity that belongs to him as a human being to use him as a mere means for some external purpose.”

I regretfully admit that there have been times in my life when I’ve used individuals as a means to an end. It’s easy to do. And, at first, it seems so harmless. Quite often, we can do this without even being aware that we’re doing it. For me, it is only in retrospect that I can recognize and acknowledge my wrongdoing. 

Perhaps it’s healthy to occasionally engage in a process of self-evaluation in regards to our relationships. Why are we associated with the friends we choose? Why are they associated with us? Is our relationship mutual and equally-beneficial, or might I be using someone for my own longterm personal gain?

The questions are tough, but worth the challenge. The answers to these questions might prove to be incredibly enlightening.