Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher whose ethical theory was duty-driven since he was a Deontologist. According to Kant, what matters is the motive and not consequences, as Mill thinks. This means that if suffering, death destruction as well as pain are the horrible consequences of an act and if the action was conducted for the right motives, this means that the act could be moral. On the other hand, an act could have the best positive consequences such as the cure of cancer, saving many lives or even world peace but if it was done for the wrong reasons, then it would not be moral and may be seen as an immoral act. According to Kant, being ethical means doing what is right or doing one's duty regardless of what is in one's interests. This only occurs out of the will, which is pure and does not have a feeling or an empirical entity as its object.
For the issue of gay marriage, it can be understood differently using the two versions of categorical imperative by Kant. According to the first categorical imperative, which states that "I should never act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim of action should become a universal law." Based on this reasoning by Kant, he is against gay marriage since the marriage contradicts the universal marriage law that a man should be married to a woman so that they could bear children. This means that even though the gay marriage may be necessary to some individuals, it contradicts the universal law of marriage, saying the act of gay marriage is against the right motives, and victims may be considered as acting in their self-interests, which Kant is against. The fact that gay victims cannot act in a way in which the principle by which their actions cannot be based or become a universal law, Kant believes that this is unethical and immoral.
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