Kant views the development of the rational capacities as necessary for the formation of a moral character, yet argues against the education of women’s rational abilities. Professional written term paper are willing to assist you with essay writing; professional services! He gives as his reason that such an education would "weaken the charms with which she exercises her great power over the other sex." In other words, woman’s rational capacities are not to be inculcated because doing so would inhibit man’s development. But that implies that woman is being treated as a means rather than an end. Setting up an impediment to the advancement of her rational abilities is not good in itself, but is good because it enables her to serve as an inspiration to man. But treating any rational being as a means to an end is completely at odds with Kant’s practical imperative: act in such a way that you treat humanity always as an end and never simply as a means. If we look carefully at Kant’s discussion of woman’s nature, we discover that all the qualities that make woman beautiful–her charm, her inborn feeling for the beautiful, her good-heartedness and other gentle qualities-acquire a large portion if not all of their value from their benefit to man. Kant does not claim that these feminine characteristics are inherently valuable, but rather discusses the ways in which they ennoble man. The good woman takes advantage of "the impression that the form and features of the fair sex make on the masculine," which Kant sees as overlaid upon the sex instinct, to bind a man to his children and encourage him to perfect his character. Kant apparently believes that nature itself sets up man as the end of humanity and woman as the means of his perfection. "The purposes of nature are directed still more to ennoble man, by the sexual inclination, and likewise still more to beautify woman. custom research paper - obtain custom research paper draft from scratch by experienced writers! A woman is embarrassed little that she does not possess certain high insights, that she is timid, and not fit for serious employments, and so forth; she is beautiful and captivates, and that is enough." Kant believes that this does not imply that woman is man’s inferior, but rather that each is in a different way the superior of the other. Woman, Kant tells us, is man’s superior in respect to "her natural talent for gaining mastery over his desire for her." 41 But woman’s superiority is in the area of the senses, not reason, of inclination, not duty. Her superiority is thus a double-edged sword. It has the potential of instilling the more refined feelings, but since it is a power of the senses over reason and of inclination over duty, unless it is carefully contained and controlled by man, it will lead neither to knowledge nor to morality.