Kant and Recreational Drugs?

Question

Explain why the following maxim would interfere with your fulfilling imperfect duties to yourself and other people:
In order to maximize my pleasure, I will take recreational drugs whenever I feel like it.

Answer 1

Alright let's apply Kant's canon of moral judgment.
i.e. Act only if you could at the same time will your action to become a universal law of nature[1]:
The law would be something like this: Everyone will ALWAYS take drugs to entertain themselves. Such widespread use of drugs will likely lead to a collapse in economy, and no more drugs will produced anymore. Therefore you probably do not want to will such a law -- thus taking drugs is immoral.

Answer 2

for clarification, there are usually 2 formulations of kant's ethical code:
-do that which you would have become a universal law

-act to treat rational subjects as ends, not means

kant would be against drug use because of the problems of universalizing that behavior. and he would also be against any behavior which reduced one's rational autonomy, as taking drugs usually does. he would probably, however, be against the stated motive behind many drug laws (protect a person from decisions they make themselves).

He viewed people as rational, autonomous subjects, and while certainly he would frown on people acting to become irrational (being high), he would also find it paternalizing to legally prohibit any rational autonomous decisions made by a subject which do not harm others. I don't think Kant made it very clear what penalties should be attached to not acting rationally, he just said it was something you must do.

So he would be in the interesting position of claiming that a person should not use anyone (including themselves) as a means to an end (here pleasure), but that society, similarly, should not use the individual (drug user) as a means to a better society, or even to protect the individual.

Answer 3

taking reacreational drugs would impair you as well as your judgement therefore you would not be wise. it would be a harm to yourself as a person as well as to the society since only harm can come out of pleasure found out by taking reacreational drugs.even so this woudl interfere with the "imperfect duties" to both ourselves as well as to others since no good could come out, only harm.

Answer 4

this is just a lame excuse drug addicts use to justify their meaningless lives

Answer 5

your true identity rises from your self, one dosent even know what they experience