The Formula of Humanity and Mistreatment of Migrants: Instrumentalization, Indifference, and Hostility

Abstract We argue that Kant’s Formula of Humanity (FH) should be expanded to provide a more nuanced analysis of complex real-world cases of mistreatment. Our specific focus is mistreatment of migrants. Migrants are not only mistreated due to their perceived instrumental value (as a mere means) but also by treating them as of no value (as a mere thing) or mistreating them due to perceived instrumental or intrinsic disvalue (as a mere threat). The well-known prohibition against instrumentalization must be supplemented by prohibitions against certain forms of indifference and certain forms of hostility. In our article, we outline these additional categories of mistreatment and explain how they relate to each other and to the prohibition against treatment as a mere means. Our goal is to show how these categories can account for a number of ethically significant phenomena that the FH as it stands does not explicitly cover.