ting all action through the prism of the categorical imperative, Kant is insisting that human beings are intrinsically valued (ends unto themselves) and should never be deliberately harmed or allowed to come to harm. If it were right to allow one human being to die even when that death could be prevented, then it would always be right to allow human beings to die in such instances. As this is clearly not the case, a Kantian would object most strenuously to the idea that we enjoy an actual right to die.
The idea that human beings and the human body in general are intrinsically valuable is not specific to Kant. Traditional duty theory, such as that
...