"Immanuel Kant", and "Kantian Ethics"

Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 2004 "Immigration," "Immanuel Kant", and "Kantian Ethics" Harry van der Linden Butler University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation van der Linden, Harry, ""Immigration," "Immanuel Kant", and "Kantian Ethics"" Ethics, revised Edition / (2004): -. Available at https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/62 This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Permission to post this publication in our archive was granted by the copyright holder, Salem Press. This copy should be used for educational and research purposes only. The original publications appeared at: "Immigration," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 715-17, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press. "Immanuel Kant," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 804-06, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press. "Kantian Ethics," published in Ethics, Revised Edition, pages 806-08, reprinted (or reproduced) by permission of the publisher Salem Press. Copyright, ©, 2004 by Salem Press. Ethics IMMIGRATION these concepts, health care will be called upon to mit communal self-determination, but critics argue igate every problem society has, not only the enor that they often violate the individual right to free mous number it is traditionally expected to solve. dom of movement and the ideal of equal eco Margaret Hawthorne nomic opportunity for all. FURTHER READING During the 1990's, the U.S. government took unprec Beauchamp, Tom L., and LeRoy Walters, eds. Con edented and costly measures to prevent migrants in temporary Issues in Bioethics. 6th ed. Belmont, search of greater economic opportunities from ille Calif: ThomsonlWadsworth, 2003. gally crossing its long border with Mexico. The fed Boorse, Christopher. "On the Distinction Between eral Irrunigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Disease and Illness." Philosophy and Public Af almost tripled its budget, doubled the size of its Bor fairs 5 (Fall, 1975): 49-68. der Patrol, and created a border of fences, cameras, Callahan, Daniel. "The WHO Definition of and policing by helicopters. Concerns with security 'Health.'" The Hastings Center Studies 1, no. 3 eventually led to further steps to close the border. Na (1973): 77-88. tions in the European Union have taken similar mea Caplan, Arthur L. 'The Concepts of Health and Dis sures. However, it is unclear how effective various ef ease." In Medical Ethics, edited by Robert M. forts at border control have been. Veatch. Boston: Jones & Bartlett, 1989. Although millions of illegal migrants were ar Engelhardt, H. Tristam, Jr. "Health and Disease: rested throughout the world and returned to their Philosophical Perspectives." In Encyclopedia of countries of origin, there were still at least six million Bioethics, edited by Warren T. Reich. Rev. ed. illegal irrunigrants in the United States and more than Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1995 three million in Western Europe at the beginning of Foucault, Michel. The Binh ofthe Clinic: An Archae the twenty-first century. The cost in human suffering ology ofMedical Perception. Translated by A. M. is also high. Every year, hundreds of migrants die try Sheridan Smith. 1973. Reprint. New York: Vin ing to enter what critics of strict border controls call . tage Books, 1994. "fortress Europe and America." The moral question McGee, Glenn, ed. Pragmatic Bioethics. 2d ed. Cam raised is what justifies governments' effort to exclude bridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003. ordinary people who seek to improve their lives. Macklin, Ruth. "Mental Health and Mental Illness: Some Problems of Definition and Concept For THE COMMUNAL RIGHT TO EXCLUDE mation." Philosophy of Science 39 (September, The communitarian philosopher Michael Walzer 1972): 341-364. argues that communities have a right to determine the rules governing their cooperation and with whom to SEE ALSO: Diagnosis; Health care allocation; Holis exchange the goods of their cooperation, inclUding tic medicine; Medical ethics; Medical insurance; membership. He compares political communities to Mental illness; Physician-patient relationship. clubs, noting that within clubs existing members choose the new members and that no one has a right to join a club. Another aspect of the analogy is that people have the right to leave their clubs and so they Immigration have a right to emigrate. Walzer adds that political communities are also similar to families. The chil DEFINITION: Flow into countries of people seeking dren of citizens are automatically citizens, and states to change their nationalities typically give preference to would-be irrunigrants TYPE OF ETHICS: Politico-economic ethics who are genetically related to its existing citizens. SIGNIFICANCE: Governments regulate by force who For Walzer, the right to exclude is not absolute: He ar may leave their territories and especially who gues that all states should take in some political refu may settle within their borders. Border controls gees since every person has the right to belong to designed to exclude unwanted immigrants may some political community. be viewed as legitimate forms of collective or There are many reasons that citizens may have for 715 IMMIGRATION Ethics wishing to exclude other people from entering their deep sharing of specific cultural values. They also ar countries. Walzer stresses the danger of immigrants gue that immigration contributes to economic growth undermining a national culture and a shared way and that many immigrants take jobs that natives find of life. Other grounds for exclusion are limiting pop undesirable. A final perceived benefit ofimmigration ulation growth, protecting the environment and re is that it counteracts the shrinking or graying of the sources, shielding native workers from wage depres native populations of many Western nations. sion and increased competition for scarce jobs, and preventing an overburdening of welfare programs, ARGUMENTS FOR OPEN BORDERS public education, and other social services. Proponents of open borders typically argue that Critics of restrictive border policies contest the even if more immigration does not benefit the receiv view that admitting many immigrants with different ing country, this does not necessarily warrant exclu cultural backgrounds threatens national unity. They sion. Some utilitarian moral philosophers argue that point out that cultural blending is common and that, the state must impartially balance the interests of its at any rate, a multicultural society enriches the lives citizens against the interests of immigrants. Liberal of its citizens. This latter view was challenged in the human rights theorists maintain that individuals have United States after the terrorist attacks of September a right to freedom of movement, arguing that just as 11, 2001, heightened public fears of Muslims living people should be able to move from one city in the in the country. United States to another-whether or not their move On their account, national unity can be based on ment benefits the communities-so they should be respect for individual rights and need not include a able to move across borders. Egalitarian liberals hold European immigrants sailing to the United States in 1906. (Library of Congress) 716 Ethics IMMIGRATION for professional workers, a preference that has Public Opinion on U.S. Immigration become more extensive in recent years. Levels in 2004 The active recruitment of immigrants with valuable professional skills has led to a "brain In January, 2004, a CBS NewslNew York Times poll asked a cross-section of Americans whether legal immi drain" from some developing countries to West gration into the United States should be kept at its current ern societies. Some countries of the developing level, increased, or decreased. world have lost anywhere from 25 percent to 75 percent of their highly skilled workers, in cluding engineers. scientists, and physicians. It is generally held that professionals from these nations should not be denied the right to emi grate from their home countries; however, some ethicists have also argued that it would be ap propriate to impose exit taxes to be paid by the hiring agencies to compensate for the eco Current level nomic loss to the sending countries and to re 34% imburse them for their educational costs. In creasingly, professional immigrants view it as their duty to establish networks with profes sionals in their countries of origin and to pro mote local businesses and educational devel . Increased opments. 16% Harry van der Linden fuRTHER READING Barry, Brian, and Robert E. Goodin, eds. Free Source: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Figures reflect re Movement: Ethical Issues in the Transna sponses of 1,022 adults surveyed in January. 2004. tional Migration of People and of Money. University Park: Pennsylvania State Uni versity Press, 1992. that closing borders to immigrants

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