Kant
Immanuel Kant, a supporter of capital punishment, offered us of the most complicated, if not ambiguous, views on the subject. ... Kant would’ve argued the rights of the condemned are being trampled; by using him as an example, we are using him as a means to an end. A rational being, in Kant’s view, is an end in himself, whether criminal or law-abiding citizen. ... In Kant’s view of ethics, actions must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for appropriateness or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral. ... Kant goes on to describe two types of commands given by reason: the hypothetical imperative, which dictates a given course of action to reach a specific end; and the categorical imperative, which dictates a course of action that must be followed because of its rightness and necessity. The categorical imperative is the basis of morality and was stated by Kant in these words: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will and general natural law. ... Otherwise, not only is justice being flaunted, but equality, which Kant sees as the basis of law and order, will not have been served. ... But what in Kant’s view, is equality?