Prohibitions against mind-altering drugs: Biblical and Kantian perspectives
I understand that the Bible does not necessarily provide a comprehensive moral theory. There are times when proper, methodical exegesis is necessary to derive certain flavors of Christian ethics. These, however, are inevitably influenced by non-Biblical sources. For example, much of virtue ethics is derived and appropriated from Aristotelian ethics.
I want to focus on verses speaking out against alcohol use in the Bible. There are many of them, and they seem to prohibit drunkenness rather than alcohol use at large. Ironically, Jesus's first miracle is turning water into wine. Let's take a look at scripture:
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Proverbs 23:20-21 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
The moral reasoning seems to be as such:
Drunkenness is bad, in virtue of x.
With x being some other morally undesirable consequence. Debauchery, unwiseness, poverty, etc.
There are other verses as well -- mainly stories -- which have some character falling to sin after getting intoxicated (Lot). These also follow the same approach of drunkenness being an "instrumental" vice rather than an intrinsic vice.
Kant takes a different approach -- one derived from a specific formulation of his Categorical Imperative. Under the Principle of Humanity, he says that we ought to treat persons never as mere means to an end, but always as ends in and of themselves.
We should also treat ourselves as ends. Using drugs undermines one's rationality, and thus violates a duty to ourselves as persons. In a mentally handicapped state, we can neither produce good or evil, and thus we cannot be held morally responsible for our actions. Therefore, acting to incapacitate our moral agency is an a priori moral wrong (same applies to suicide). I believe Kant would say that drunkenness is an intrinsic vice, rather than an instrumental one.
I think the differences are pointed enough for me to say that these are two distinct moral systems. One emphasizes consequences, and the other principles. I'd like to say that I find Kant's approach to be more appealing, but I could be misreading the Bible and using too strict of a moral criterion to judge it.
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