Humans as ends not means.

Johnel, you sum up Kant superbly here!   Humans are always an end, never a means.  If we treat humans as means to ends, we dehumanize them, and hence engage in unethical behavior.  Yes, ends and means are crucial in ethics; Kant makes this very clear.  We ought not to use people as means to an end.  They are the end, and our means need to make and treat them as the end.  Exactly.  Dr. Rux