Citizens or Consumers?:

I agree with Sagoff’s argument for a Kantian approach to policy recommendation in regard to the environment – humans ultimately have to be treated as “ends in themselves” and not as simply a set of market preferences. It is obvious, however, that what people politically support and what people consume can be completely different and, in fact, contradictory. Our market preferences will never completely align with our political preferences, but this doesn’t mean that we should view human beings as merely “haver[s] of wants” (635) but rather it suggests that our market preferences ultimately cannot be the judge of our policy, especially in regard to the environment. The economist approach to policy formation suggests that what we ought to do as a community is less important than what we actually do as individuals making choices in the market place. Morality, however, isn’t concerned necessarily with the way things are but rather with the way things should be, and indeed, the economist’s position then isn’t concerned with morality but with efficiency and expediency in the market.

The challenge which Sargoff faces, however, is the practical application of the Kantian position. If, as the economist suggest, our market preferences accurately reflect our interests – though we would support just political causes at the same time – then ultimately our policy must coincide with the majority opinion. We can’t pretend that we are against factory farming if we are consistently supporting the industry; our market preferences show to the economists our true selves behind the politically correct/ideal mask which we hide behind. Sargoff, however, responds to this objection by claiming that, though our market preferences as consumers may ultimately express our true interests, we are nevertheless still outside of morality, that is, still talking about the way things are rather than how they ought to be. The practical application of Kantian principles, while extremely demanding, may be exactly what morality requires and our obligations as citizens may, in fact, sometimes trump our preferences as individual consumers.