The phrase "a means only" is not correct and does not convey a clear meaning in written English.
It may be intended to express that something serves solely as a method or tool, but the phrasing is awkward and unclear.
Example: "This tool is a means only to achieve the desired outcome, not an end in itself."
Alternatives: "a mere means" or "only a method".
Perhaps the most recognized articulation of a deontological moral theory is found in the "end-in-oneself" formulation of Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative: "Act so that you treat humanity…always as an end and never as a means only". In other words, one should never use others for purposes they themselves would reject.
It makes sense that a thinker who recalls the "slavery of his youth" with "terror and fear" would insist that treating humanity as an end, instead of a means only, is a Categorical Imperative.
Nagel's argument claims that one treats a person as a means only if one does not give him adequate reason to share the end you are coercing him into.
This formulation states that we should never act in such a way that we treat Humanity, whether in ourselves or in others, as a means only but always as an end in itself.
Although Kant is not himself a pacifist, one might be able to ground pacifism in Kant's alternative version of the moral law: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only" (Kant 1990, 46).
Because everyone is "to count for one, nobody for more than one" not just as a resource for generating utility but also as deserving to experience a share of it, no one may be sacrificed callously without limit for the good of the rest.[13] No one may be treated as a means only but must be treated as an end as well.
Living with a disability means only being able to travel to cities where accessible transportation is an option.
Currently, he says, they are "written in a language that means only a lawyer can deal with it and partner fees are between £250 and £400 an hour".
From the stylebook: "Tempting though it may be for the confines of a headline, mishap means only a slight accident with negligible consequences".
A deadlocked jury means only that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges presented".
Being in a scarcity mindset means only one person can be right: you or a prospect.
