It is the central tenet of the ethical theory of the German Idealist thinker Immanuel Kant that a person must not be treated as a means to an end but as an end only unique unto herself or himself. Therefore, it is wrong to use animals for food or clothing, for in doing so, we reduce them to mere instrumentalities and fail to consider their uniqueness.
Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the speaker's use of Kant's ethical doctrine?
A) Kant never considered the possibility that animals might be deserving of ethical treatment
B) The use of animals for food and clothing is offensive to many people who themselves consider animals ends and not means
C) Kant implies that rehabilitation is not a legitimate objective of the penal system because it treats the criminal as an end
D) In nature, every animal is a petential source of nourishment for other animals below it on the food chain
E) Kant's conclusion about treating humans as ends rests upon the assumption that humans have the ability for rational thought