This moral integrity or humanity is an end in itself. If one commits suicide one is failing to do his duty, even if that duty is to suffer courageously. Similarly, one who intends to deceive another in making a promise is exploiting that other, using him as a means solely. At the same time as one gets the help of others, one must treat them and respect them as ends in themselves. One must regard them as possessing humanity equal to one's own and possessing the same absolute worth.
Exploitation means treating others as means rather than as ends, as things rather than as persons.
Exploitation even violates one's own humanity, for treating others as means or things goes against the moral law. It respects in all humans their moral capability, their potential freedom, their capacity of ruling themselves in accordance with moral law. Respect for humanity in oneself and in others is the basis of morality. If God exists, he too belongs to the realm of free beings, the kingdom of ends in themselves. This does not mean, therefore, that each person does as he pleases, but that each person must by means of his own practical reason determine the universal law that applies to each and every person.