If everyone donated income to everyone who needed it at least 10% more (in utility/$ terms), then the equilibrium would be a state where almost everyone gets to keep almost all their income because everyone in bad but fixable situations is now doing a lot better and there are no major utility gradients left. There would still be people who are worse off, but they’re worse off in ways that can’t be easily remedied by things that money can buy. So no, Kant doesn’t have any objections.
So if this is the requirement to be ethical, then nearly everyone in the world is unethical. Which isn’t a surprising conclusion, but it’s surprising for someone to both say “this is ethically necessary” and “no I won’t do that”.
If everyone donated income to everyone who needed it at least 10% more (in utility/$ terms), then the equilibrium would be a state where almost everyone gets to keep almost all their income because everyone in bad but fixable situations is now doing a lot better and there are no major utility gradients left. There would still be people who are worse off, but they’re worse off in ways that can’t be easily remedied by things that money can buy. So no, Kant doesn’t have any objections.
So if this is the requirement to be ethical, then nearly everyone in the world is unethical. Which isn’t a surprising conclusion, but it’s surprising for someone to both say “this is ethically necessary” and “no I won’t do that”.