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Single Idea 5623

[filed under theme 2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 1. On Reason ]

Full Idea

If I know that the earth is a sphere, and its surface the surface of a sphere, then from a small part of the latter I can know the diameter, and hence the complete boundary, and in accordance with a priori principles.

Gist of Idea

If I know the earth is a sphere, and I am on it, I can work out its area from a small part

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B787/A757)

Book Ref

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.653

A Reaction

A nice example, though it may be optimistic in its assumption that you can know you are on a sphere rather than an egg-shape. I agree with Kant, but speculative metaphysics should always be accompanied by humility and health warnings.

The 447 ideas from Immanuel Kant

12157 Kant gave form and status to aesthetics, and Hegel gave it content [Kant, by Scruton]
20346 The aesthetic attitude is a matter of disinterestedness [Kant, by Wollheim]
18547 Only rational beings can experience beauty [Kant, by Scruton]
22711 The beautiful is not conceptualised as moral, but it symbolises or resembles goodness [Kant, by Murdoch]
4025 Kant saw beauty as a sort of disinterested pleasure, which has become separate from the good [Kant, by Taylor,C]
5643 Aesthetic values are not objectively valid, but we must treat them as if they are [Kant, by Scruton]
22046 The mathematical sublime is immeasurable greatness; the dynamical sublime is overpowering [Kant, by Pinkard]
21458 The sublime is a moral experience [Kant, by Gardner]
20410 The judgement of beauty is not cognitive, but relates, via imagination, to pleasurable feelings [Kant]
20412 Beauty is only judged in pure contemplation, and not with something else at stake [Kant]
20408 With respect to the senses, taste is an entirely personal matter [Kant]
20409 When we judge beauty, it isn't just personal; we judge on behalf of everybody [Kant]
20411 Saying everyone has their own taste destroys the very idea of taste [Kant]
18239 What is contemplated must have a higher value than contemplation [Kant, by Korsgaard]
22053 The Critique of Judgement aims for a principle that unities humanity and nature [Kant, by Bowie]
18237 Without men creation would be in vain, and without final purpose [Kant]
18238 Only a good will can give man's being, and hence the world, a final purpose [Kant]
19669 For Kant the laws must be necessary, because contingency would destroy representation [Kant, by Meillassoux]
19672 Kant fails to prove the necessity of laws, because his reasoning about chance is over-ambitious [Meillassoux on Kant]
8451 Existence is merely derived from the word 'is' (rather than being a predicate) [Kant, by Orenstein]
3321 Modern logic says (with Kant) that existence is not a predicate, because it has been reclassified as a quantifier [Benardete,JA on Kant]
13732 Kant never denied that 'exist' could be a predicate - only that it didn't enlarge concepts [Kant, by Fitting/Mendelsohn]
8734 Non-subject/predicate tautologies won't fit Kant's definition of analyticity [Shapiro on Kant]
22004 Concepts are rules for combining representations [Kant, by Pinkard]
8735 Kant implies that concepts have analysable parts [Kant, by Shapiro]
7314 How can bachelor 'contain' unmarried man? Are all analytic truths in subject-predicate form? [Miller,A on Kant]
9756 We must be free, because we can act against our strongest desires [Kant, by Korsgaard]
8687 Kantian 'intuition' is the bridge between pure reason and its application to sense experiences [Kant, by Friend]
21759 Kant deduced the categories from our judgements, and then as preconditions of experience [Kant, by Houlgate]
19655 Kant says we can describe the categories of thought, but Hegel claims to deduce them [Kant, by Meillassoux]
5404 Two plus two objects make four objects even if experience is impossible, so Kant is wrong [Russell on Kant]
3342 Seeing that only one parallel can be drawn to a line through a given point is clearly synthetic a priori [Kant, by Benardete,JA]
20943 Kant bases the synthetic a priori on the categories of oneness and manyness [Kant, by Bowie]
5402 Kant showed that we have a priori knowledge which is not purely analytic [Kant, by Russell]
5203 We can think of 7 and 5 without 12, but it is still a contradiction to deny 7+5=12 [Ayer on Kant]
5403 If, as Kant says, arithmetic and logic are contributed by us, they could change if we did [Russell on Kant]
18262 For Kant analytic knowledge needs complex concepts, but the a priori can rest on the simple [Coffa on Kant]
2774 Kant says the cognitive and sensory elements in experience can't be separated [Kant, by Dancy,J]
22005 Associations and causes cannot explain content, which needs norms of judgement [Kant, by Pinkard]
6577 For Kant, our conceptual scheme is disastrous when it reaches beyond experience [Kant, by Fogelin]
8736 Kantian intuitions are of particulars, and they give immediate knowledge [Kant, by Shapiro]
7070 Kant says knowledge is when our representations sufficiently conform to our concepts [Kant, by Critchley]
4708 Kant thought he had refuted scepticism, but his critics say he is a sceptic, for rejecting reality [O'Grady on Kant]
6578 For Kant, experience is relative to a scheme, but there are no further possible schemes [Kant, by Fogelin]
4086 Kant thought that consciousness depends on self-consciousness ('apperception') [Kant, by Crane]
2869 Kant's only answer as to how synthetic a priori judgements are possible was that we have a 'faculty'! [Nietzsche on Kant]
9751 To some extent we must view ourselves as noumena [Kant, by Korsgaard]
12767 Kant exposed the illusions of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic [Kant, by Fraassen]
21462 It is still possible to largely accept Kant as a whole (where others must be dismantled) [Kant, by Gardner]
9752 Kant showed that theoretical reason cannot give answers to speculative metaphysics [Kant, by Korsgaard]
6584 A priori metaphysics is fond of basic unchanging entities like God, the soul, Forms, atoms… [Kant, by Fogelin]
7918 Kant turned metaphysics into epistemology, ignoring Aristotle's 'being qua being' [Kant, by Macdonald,C]
18236 Reason keeps asking why until explanation is complete [Kant, by Korsgaard]
8739 Geometry studies the Euclidean space that dictates how we perceive things [Kant, by Shapiro]
9632 Kant only accepts potential infinity, not actual infinity [Kant, by Brown,JR]
3343 Euclid's could be the only viable geometry, if rejection of the parallel line postulate doesn't lead to a contradiction [Benardete,JA on Kant]
12421 Kant's intuitions struggle to judge relevance, impossibility and exactness [Kitcher on Kant]
12458 Kant taught that mathematics is independent of logic, and cannot be grounded in it [Kant, by Hilbert]
7416 Kant is read as the phenomena being 'contrained' by the noumenon, or 'free-floating' [Talbot on Kant]
6160 Does Kant say the mind imposes categories, or that it restricts us to them? [Rowlands on Kant]
17772 Kant claims causal powers are relational rather than intrinsic [Kant, by Bayne]
7576 The Identity of Indiscernibles is true of concepts with identical properties, but not of particulars [Kant, by Jolley]
23461 Kant thought worldly necessities are revealed by what maths needs to make sense [Kant, by Morris,M]
14710 Necessity is always knowable a priori, and what is known a priori is always necessary [Kant, by Schroeter]
16256 For Kant metaphysics must be necessary, so a priori, so can't be justified by experience [Kant, by Maudlin]
16898 Understanding essentially involves singular elements [Kant, by Burge]
20944 Knowledge is threefold: apprehension, reproduction by imagination, recognition by concepts [Kant, by Bowie]
15627 Kant showed that the understanding (unlike reason) concerns what is finite and conditioned [Kant, by Hegel]
22003 We have no sensual experience of time and space, so they must be 'ideal' [Kant, by Pinkard]
21456 Objects having to be experiencable is not the same as full idealism [Gardner on Kant]
6910 Kant's idealism is a limited idealism based on the viewpoint of empiricism [Kant, by Feuerbach]
21440 For Kant experience is either structured like reality, or generates reality's structure [Kant, by Gardner]
22006 The concepts that make judgeable experiences possible are created spontaneously [Kant, by Pinkard]
6909 In Kantian idealism, objects fit understanding, not vice versa [Kant, by Feuerbach]
9156 Kant's shift of view enables us to see a priority in terms of mental capacity, not truth and propositions [Burge on Kant]
7575 A priori knowledge is limited to objects of possible experience [Kant, by Jolley]
9755 The concept of causality entails laws; random causality is a contradiction [Kant, by Korsgaard]
17709 We judge causation by relating events together by some law of nature [Kant, by Mares]
22052 Kant's nature is just a system of necessary laws [Bowie on Kant]
8256 Kant identifies nature with the scientific picture of it as the realm of law [Kant, by McDowell]
6916 For Kant, essence is mental and a mere idea, and existence is the senses and mere appearance [Kant, by Feuerbach]
21439 Religion and legislation can only be respected if they accept free and public examination [Kant]
18794 Logic has precise boundaries, and is the formal rules for all thinking [Kant]
21438 Metaphysics might do better to match objects to our cognition (and not start with the objects) [Kant]
12414 A priori knowledge occurs absolutely independently of all experience [Kant]
9345 Propositions involving necessity are a priori, and pure a priori if they only derive from other necessities [Kant]
16893 The apriori is independent of its sources, and marked by necessity and generality [Kant, by Burge]
9346 Judgements which are essentially and strictly universal reveal our faculty of a priori cognition [Kant]
5523 Causation obviously involves necessity, so it cannot just be frequent association [Kant]
9347 A priori knowledge is indispensable for the possibility and certainty of experience [Kant]
9348 Experienceless bodies have space; propertyless bodies have substance; this must be seen a priori [Kant]
9349 A dove cutting through the air, might think it could fly better in airless space (which Plato attempted) [Kant]
9350 Our reason mostly analyses concepts we already have of objects [Kant]
9351 One sort of a priori knowledge just analyses given concepts, but another ventures further [Kant]
20291 If the predicate is contained in the subject of a judgement, it is analytic; otherwise synthetic [Kant]
20292 Analytic judgements clarify, by analysing the subject into its component predicates [Kant]
18259 Analysis is becoming self-conscious about our concepts [Kant]
5524 Maths must be a priori because it is necessary, and that cannot be derived from experience [Kant]
5525 No analysis of the sum of seven and five will in itself reveal twelve [Kant]
5527 That a straight line is the shortest is synthetic, as straight does not imply any quantity [Kant]
5526 With large numbers it is obvious that we could never find the sum by analysing the concepts [Kant]
5528 That force and counter-force are equal is necessary, and a priori synthetic [Kant]
5529 The real problem of pure reason is: how are a priori synthetic judgments possible? [Kant]
16611 You just can't stop metaphysical speculation, in any mature mind [Kant]
5530 Analysis of our concepts is merely a preparation for proper a priori metaphysics [Kant]
21442 'Transcendental' cognition concerns what can be known a priori of its mode [Kant]
23454 Appearances have a 'form', which indicates a relational order [Kant]
17736 We can't learn of space through experience; experience of space needs its representation [Kant]
5531 Space is an a priori necessary basic intuition, as we cannot imagine its absence [Kant]
5532 Colours and tastes are not qualities of things, but alterations of the subject [Kant]
5533 Objects in themselves are not known to us at all [Kant]
5534 One can never imagine appearances without time, so it is given a priori [Kant]
5535 That times cannot be simultaneous is synthetic, so it is known by intuition, not analysis [Kant]
5536 If space and time exist absolutely, we must assume the existence of two pointless non-entities [Kant]
19386 Without the subject or the senses, space and time vanish, as their appearances disappear [Kant]
21446 If we disappeared, then all relations of objects, and time and space themselves, disappear too [Kant]
21445 Even the most perfect intuition gets no closer to things in themselves [Kant]
5537 That two lines cannot enclose a space is an intuitive a priori synthetic proposition [Kant]
5538 Understanding has no intuitions, and senses no thought, so knowledge needs their unity [Kant]
17616 Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind [Kant]
5540 Cleverness is shown in knowing what can reasonably be asked [Kant]
5539 We must presuppose that truth is agreement of cognition with its objects [Kant]
5541 A sufficient but general sign of truth cannot possibly be provided [Kant]
5542 There must be a general content-free account of truth in the rules of logic [Kant]
5543 All human cognition is through concepts [Kant]
22443 We are seldom aware of imagination, but we would have no cognition at all without it [Kant]
5544 Four groups of categories of concept: Quantity, Quality, Relation and Modality [Kant]
5545 Appearances give rules of what usually happens, but cause involves necessity [Kant]
5546 Are a priori concepts necessary as a precondition for something to be an object? [Kant]
5547 The categories are objectively valid, because they make experience possible [Kant]
21449 The a priori concept of objects in general is the ground of experience [Kant]
21448 Categories are general concepts of objects, which determine the way in which they are experienced [Kant]
21450 Representation would be impossible without the 'I think' that accompanies it [Kant]
5549 Mental representations would not be mine if they did not belong to a unified self-consciousness [Kant]
5550 A substance could exist as a subject, but not as a mere predicate [Kant]
5551 I have no cognition of myself as I am, but only as I appear to myself [Kant]
23697 I exist just as an intelligence aware of its faculty for combination [Kant]
5552 Categories are concepts that prescribe laws a priori to appearances [Kant]
5553 Either experience creates concepts, or concepts make experience possible [Kant]
5554 Categories are necessary, so can't be implanted in us to agree with natural laws [Kant]
5555 Philosophical examples rarely fit rules properly, and lead to inflexibility [Kant]
5556 A pure concept of the understanding can never become an image [Kant]
8737 Kant suggested that arithmetic has no axioms [Kant, by Shapiro]
5557 Axioms ought to be synthetic a priori propositions [Kant]
2795 If 7+5=12 is analytic, then an infinity of other ways to reach 12 have to be analytic [Kant, by Dancy,J]
5558 7+5=12 is not analytic, because 12 is not contained in 7 or 5 or their combination [Kant]
5559 Sensations are a posteriori, but that they come in degrees is known a priori [Kant]
5560 The three modes of time are persistence, succession and simultaneity [Kant]
21451 All appearances need substance, as that which persists through change [Kant]
5561 If time involved succession, we must think of another time in which succession occurs [Kant]
5562 Experience is only possible because we subject appearances to causal laws [Kant]
5563 The principle of sufficient reason is the ground of possible experience in time [Kant]
14560 A ball denting a pillow seems like simultaneous cause and effect, though time identifies which is cause [Kant]
5564 Substance must exist, as the persisting substratum of the process of change [Kant]
5565 Proof of the principle of sufficient reason cannot be found [Kant]
18796 Formal experience conditions show what is possible, and general conditions what is necessary [Kant]
18797 Modalities do not augment our concepts; they express their relation to cognition [Kant]
21452 I can only determine my existence in time via external things [Kant]
5566 Is the possible greater than the actual, and the actual greater than the necessary? [Kant]
8740 Geometry would just be an idle game without its connection to our intuition [Kant]
17617 Maths is a priori, but without its relation to empirical objects it is meaningless [Kant]
5567 A priori the understanding can only anticipate possible experiences [Kant]
5568 We cannot know things in themselves, but are confined to appearances [Kant]
5569 We cannot represent objects unless we combine concepts with intuitions [Kant]
14509 If we ignore differences between water drops, we still distinguish them by their location [Kant]
5570 Self-knowledge can only be inner sensation, and thus appearance [Kant]
22274 'Transcendent' is beyond experience, and 'transcendental' is concealed within experience [Kant, by Potter]
5572 Reason has logical and transcendental faculties [Kant]
5571 Reason contains within itself certain underived concepts and principles [Kant]
5573 Reason is distinct from understanding, and is the faculty of rules or principles [Kant]
5575 An obvious idea is a constitution based on maximum mutual freedom for citizens [Kant]
5576 We cannot derive moral laws from experience, as it is the mother of illusion [Kant]
5577 Transcendental ideas require unity of the subject, conditions of appearance, and objects of thought [Kant]
5578 Pure reason deals with concepts in the understanding, not with objects [Kant]
5581 We have proved that bodies are appearances of the outer senses, not things in themselves [Kant]
5582 As balls communicate motion, so substances could communicate consciousness, but not retain identity [Kant]
5583 We need an account of the self based on rational principles, to avoid materialism [Kant]
5584 All objections are dogmatic (against propositions), or critical (against proofs), or sceptical [Kant]
5585 Soul and body connect physically, or by harmony, or by assistance [Kant]
5586 The voyage of reason may go only as far as the coastline of experience reaches [Kant]
2965 For Kant the self is a purely formal idea, not a substance [Kant, by Lockwood]
5589 Neither materialism nor spiritualism can reveal the separate existence of the soul [Kant]
5590 'I think therefore I am' is an identity, not an inference (as there is no major premise) [Kant]
5591 Reason must assume as necessary that everything in a living organism has a proportionate purpose [Kant]
5592 Scepticism is the euthanasia of pure reason [Kant]
5593 Reason generates no concepts, but frees them from their link to experience in the understanding [Kant]
5594 Natural necessity is the unconditioned necessity of appearances [Kant]
21454 The battle of the antinomies is usually won by the attacker, and lost by any defender [Kant]
5595 Scepticism is absurd in maths, where there are no hidden false assertions [Kant]
5596 We must assume an absolute causal spontaneity beginning from itself [Kant]
5597 If there is a first beginning, there can be other sequences initiated from nothing [Kant]
5598 If you prove God cosmologically, by a regress in the sequences of causes, you can't abandon causes at the end [Kant]
5599 Without God, creation and free will, morality would be empty [Kant]
5600 Human reason considers all knowledge as belonging to a possible system [Kant]
21956 Everything we intuit is merely a representation, with no external existence (Transcendental Idealism) [Kant]
5601 There are possible inhabitants of the moon, but they are just possible experiences [Kant]
5602 The free dialectic opposition of arguments is an invaluable part of the sceptical method [Kant]
21455 We only understand what exists, and can find no sign of what ought to be in nature [Kant]
5603 Pure reason exists outside of time [Kant]
5604 In reason things can only begin if they are voluntary [Kant]
5605 Moral blame is based on reason, since a reason is a cause which should have been followed [Kant]
5606 Freedom and natural necessity do not contradict, as they relate to different conditions [Kant]
5607 Only three proofs of God: the physico-theological (evidence), the cosmological (existence), the ontological (a priori) [Kant]
18795 A concept is logically possible if non-contradictory (but may not be actually possible) [Kant]
5609 If 'this exists' is analytic, either the thing is a thought, or you have presupposed its existence [Kant]
5608 Is "This thing exists" analytic or synthetic? [Kant]
5610 If an existential proposition is synthetic, you must be able to cancel its predicate without contradiction [Kant]
5611 Being is not a real predicate, that adds something to a concept [Kant]
5612 You add nothing to the concept of God or coins if you say they exist [Kant]
4475 Saying a thing 'is' adds nothing to it - otherwise if my concept exists, it isn't the same as my concept [Kant]
5613 The analytic mark of possibility is that it does not generate a contradiction [Kant]
5615 Extension and impenetrability together make the concept of matter [Kant]
5616 Pure reason is only concerned with itself because it deals with understandings, not objects [Kant]
5617 Knowledge begins with intuitions, moves to concepts, and ends with ideas [Kant]
16899 Geometrical truth comes from a general schema abstracted from a particular object [Kant, by Burge]
18264 We know the shape of a cone from its concept, but we don't know its colour [Kant]
5618 Definitions exhibit the exhaustive concept of a thing within its boundaries [Kant]
5619 No a priori concept can be defined [Kant]
5620 Philosophy has no axioms, as it is just rational cognition of concepts [Kant]
5621 The existence of reason depends on the freedom of citizens to agree, doubt and veto ideas [Kant]
5622 The boundaries of reason can only be determined a priori [Kant]
5623 If I know the earth is a sphere, and I am on it, I can work out its area from a small part [Kant]
5624 We possess synthetic a priori knowledge in our principles which anticipate experience [Kant]
5626 An a priori principle of persistence anticipates all experience [Kant]
23696 Transcendental cognition is that a priori thought which shows how the a priori is applicable or possible [Kant]
5627 I can express the motion of my body in a single point, but that doesn't mean it is a simple substance [Kant]
5628 Reason hates to be limited in its speculations [Kant]
5629 If a proposition implies any false consequences, then it is false [Kant]
5630 Our concept of an incorporeal nature is merely negative [Kant]
5631 Reason is only interested in knowledge, actions and hopes [Kant]
5632 Moral laws are commands, which must involve promises and threats, which only God could provide [Kant]
5633 We don't accept duties as coming from God, but assume they are divine because they are duties [Kant]
5634 Opinion is subjectively and objectively insufficient; belief is subjective but not objective; knowledge is both [Kant]
5635 In ordinary life the highest philosophy is no better than common understanding [Kant]
21457 Reason has two separate objects, morality and freedom, and nature, which ultimately unite [Kant]
21954 Metaphysics is a systematic account of everything that can be known a priori [Kant]
21058 Enlightenment requires the free use of reason in the public realm [Kant]
8046 We can only know we should obey God if we already have moral standards for judging God [Kant, by MacIntyre]
20714 God is not proved by reason, but is a postulate of moral thinking [Kant, by Davies,B]
7673 Retributive punishment is better than being sent to hospital for your crimes [Kant, by Berlin]
7591 Kant completed Grotius's project of a non-religious basis for natural law [Scruton on Kant]
4345 For Kant, even a person who lacks all sympathy for others still has a motive for benevolence [Kant, by Hursthouse]
22050 The maxim of an action is chosen, and not externally imposed [Kant, by Bowie]
6694 Always treat humanity as an end and never as a means only [Kant]
4413 The categorical imperative smells of cruelty [Nietzsche on Kant]
8026 Almost any precept can be consistently universalized [MacIntyre on Kant]
15673 The intuition behind the categorical imperative is that one ought not to make an exception of oneself [Kant, by Finlayson]
8068 Universalising a maxim needs to first stipulate the right description for the action [Anscombe on Kant]
4251 If we are required to give moral thought the highest priority, this gives morality no content [Williams,B on Kant]
16004 If Kant lives by self-administered laws, this is as feeble as self-administered punishments [Kierkegaard on Kant]
3544 Kant thinks virtue becomes passive, and hence morally unaccountable [Kant, by Annas]
3762 Why couldn't all rational beings accept outrageously immoral rules of conduct? [Mill on Kant]
7674 Generosity and pity are vices, because they falsely imply one person's superiority to another [Kant, by Berlin]
21029 Kantian respect is for humanity and reason (not from love or sympathy or solidarity) [Kant, by Sandel]
4024 Kant follows Rousseau in defining freedom and morality in terms of each other [Taylor,C on Kant]
7105 If 'maxims' are deeper underlying intentions, Kant can be read as a virtue theorist [Kant, by Statman]
7625 We can ask how rational goodness is, but also why is rationality good [Putnam on Kant]
8025 The categorical imperative will not suggest maxims suitable for testing [MacIntyre on Kant]
8027 I can universalize a selfish maxim, if it is expressed in a way that only applies to me [MacIntyre on Kant]
5295 Kant was happy with 'good will', even if it had no result [Kant, by Marx/Engels]
6695 Kant has to attribute high moral worth to some deeply unattractive human lives [Kant, by Graham]
8028 Kantian duty seems to imply conformism with authority [MacIntyre on Kant]
7670 Kant is the father of the notion of exploitation as an evil [Kant, by Berlin]
5296 Kant made the political will into a pure self-determined "free" will [Kant, by Marx/Engels]
24011 Kant thought emotions are too random and passive to be part of morality [Kant, by Williams,B]
9749 Our rational choices confer value, arising from the sense that we ourselves are important [Kant, by Korsgaard]
7671 Values are created by human choices, and are not some intrinsic quality, out there [Kant, by Berlin]
5074 Kant united religion and philosophy, by basing obedience to law on reason instead of faith [Taylor,R on Kant]
8024 The categorical imperative says nothing about what our activities and ends should be [MacIntyre on Kant]
22390 Kant thought human nature was pure hedonism, so virtue is only possible via the categorical imperative [Foot on Kant]
9750 We must only value what others find acceptable [Kant, by Korsgaard]
20160 Kant focuses exclusively on human values, and neglects cultural and personal values [Kekes on Kant]
3710 The only purely good thing is a good will [Kant]
3711 Only a good will makes us worthy of happiness [Kant]
3712 A good will is not good because of what it achieves [Kant]
3713 The function of reason is to produce a good will [Kant]
3714 Dutiful actions are judged not by purpose, but by the maxim followed [Kant]
3715 Other causes can produce nice results, so morality must consist in the law, found only in rational beings [Kant]
3717 Reverence is awareness of a value which demolishes my self-love [Kant]
3716 Act according to a maxim you can will as a universal law [Kant]
3718 Telling the truth from duty is quite different from doing so to avoid inconvenience [Kant]
3719 If lying were the universal law it would make promises impossible [Kant]
3720 We may claim noble motives, but we cannot penetrate our secret impulses [Kant]
3721 We judge God to be good by a priori standards of moral perfection [Kant]
3722 Metaphysics goes beyond the empirical, so doesn't need examples [Kant]
3724 A categorical imperative sees an action as necessary purely for its own sake [Kant]
3723 There are no imperatives for a holy will, as the will is in harmony with moral law [Kant]
3725 The good of an action is in the mind of the doer, not the consequences [Kant]
3726 The categorical imperative is a practical synthetic a priori proposition [Kant]
3727 Act as if your maxim were to become a universal law of nature [Kant]
3728 Suicide, false promises, neglected talent, and lack of charity all involve contradictions of principle [Kant, by PG]
3729 Our inclinations are not innately desirable; in fact most rational beings would like to be rid of them [Kant]
3730 Non-rational beings only have a relative value, as means rather than as ends [Kant]
3731 Rational beings necessarily conceive their own existence as an end in itself [Kant]
3732 Rational beings have a right to share in the end of an action, not just be part of the means [Kant]
3733 The 'golden rule' cannot be a universal law as it implies no duties [Kant]
3735 Men are subject to laws which are both self-made and universal [Kant]
3736 Virtue lets a rational being make universal law, and share in the kingdom of ends [Kant]
3737 The will is good if its universalised maxim is never in conflict with itself [Kant]
3738 The hallmark of rationality is setting itself an end [Kant]
3739 Free will is a kind of causality which works independently of other causes [Kant]
3740 We cannot conceive of reason as being externally controlled [Kant]
3741 We shall never be able to comprehend how freedom is possible [Kant]
22008 Always treat yourself and others as an end, and never simply as a means [Kant]
22009 Morality is the creation of the laws that enable a Kingdom of Ends [Kant]
20715 It is basic that moral actions must be done from duty [Kant]
4344 Actions where people spread happiness because they enjoy it have no genuine moral worth [Kant]
19739 The maxim for suicide is committed to the value of life, and is thus contradictory [Kant]
15308 Science is the reduction of diverse forces and powers to a smaller number that explain them [Kant]
21407 Equality is not being bound in ways you cannot bind others [Kant]
21080 Actions are right if the maxim respects universal mutual freedoms [Kant]
21081 We are equipped with the a priori intuitions needed for the concept of right [Kant]
21406 Because there is only one human reason, there can only be one true philosophy from principles [Kant]
21082 A power-based state of nature may not be unjust, but there is no justice without competent judges [Kant]
21083 Women have no role in politics [Kant]
21084 In the contract people lose their rights, but immediately regain them, in the new commonwealth [Kant]
21085 The church has a political role, by offering a supreme power over people [Kant]
21086 Hereditary nobility has not been earned, and probably won't be earned [Kant]
21087 Human life is pointless without justice [Kant]
21088 Justice asserts the death penalty for murder, from a priori laws [Kant]
21089 Monarchs have the highest power; autocrats have complete power [Kant]
21090 If someone has largely made something, then they own it [Kant]
21408 For any subject, its system of non-experiential concepts needs a metaphysics [Kant]
21409 Moral principles do not involve feelings [Kant]
21410 That a concept is not self-contradictory does not make what it represents possible [Kant]
21411 A duty of virtue is a duty which is also an end [Kant]
21412 Humans are distinguished from animals by their capacity to set themselves any sort of end [Kant]
21413 Virtue is strong maxims for duty [Kant]
21414 The supreme principle of virtue is to find universal laws for ends [Kant]
21415 Duty is impossible without prior moral feeling, conscience, love and self-respect [Kant]
21416 Philosophers should not offer multiple proofs - suggesting the weakness of each of them [Kant]
21417 How do we distinguish a mean? The extremes can involve quite different maxims [Kant]
21418 There is one principle of virtues; the virtues are distinguished by their objects [Kant]
21419 If virtue becomes a habit, that is a loss of the freedom needed for adopting maxims [Kant]
21420 If virtue is the mean between vices, then virtue is just the vanishing of vice [Kant]
21421 Within nature man is unimportant, but as moral person he is above any price [Kant]
21422 Moral self-knowledge is the beginning of all human wisdom [Kant]
21423 Men can only have duties to those who qualify as persons [Kant]
21424 Cruelty to animals is bad because it dulls our empathy for pain in humans [Kant]
21425 We can love without respect, and show respect without love [Kant]
21430 Disrespect is using a person as a mere means to my own ends [Kant]
21427 Respect is limiting our self-esteem by attending to the human dignity of other persons [Kant]
21426 Love urges us to get closer to people, but respect to keep our distance [Kant]
21428 Respect is purely negative (of not exalting oneself over others), and is thus a duty of Right [Kant]
21429 The duty of love is to makes the ends of others one's own [Kant]
21431 The love of man is required in order to present the world as a beautiful and perfect moral whole [Kant]
21433 Violation of rights deserves punishment, which is vengeance, rather than restitution [Kant]
21434 We must respect the humanity even in a vicious criminal [Kant]
21435 Man is both social, and unsociable [Kant]
21436 We are obliged to show the social virtues, but at least they make a virtuous disposition fashionable [Kant]
21437 All morality directs the will to love of others' ends, and respect for others' rights [Kant]
20569 Kant made the social contract international and cosmopolitan [Kant, by Oksala]
21073 Hiring soldiers is to use them as instruments, ignoring their personal rights [Kant]
21074 Some trust in the enemy is needed during wartime, or peace would be impossible [Kant]
21075 The state of nature always involves the threat of war [Kant]
21076 Equality is where you cannot impose a legal obligation you yourself wouldn't endure [Kant]
21077 Each nation should, from self-interest, join an international security constitution [Kant]
21078 A constitution must always be improved when necessary [Kant]
21079 The a priori general will of a people shows what is right [Kant]
20570 There is now a growing universal community, and violations of rights are felt everywhere [Kant]
20571 There are political and inter-national rights, but also universal cosmopolitan rights [Kant]
21971 Transcendental philosophy is the subject becoming the originator of unified reality [Kant]
18675 Kant may rate two things as finally valuable: having a good will, and deserving happiness [Orsi on Kant]
22007 An autonomous agent has dignity [Würde], which has absolute worth [Kant, by Pinkard]
18234 The good will is unconditionally good, because it is the only possible source of value [Kant, by Korsgaard]
18235 Only human reason can confer value on our choices [Kant, by Korsgaard]
6183 Can pure reason determine the will, or are empirical conditions relevant? [Kant]
6181 Necessity cannot be extracted from an empirical proposition [Kant]
6207 What fills me with awe are the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me [Kant]
6184 Consistency is the highest obligation of a philosopher [Kant]
6185 No one would lend money unless a universal law made it secure, even after death [Kant]
6186 A holy will is incapable of any maxims which conflict with the moral law [Kant]
6187 Universality determines the will, and hence extends self-love into altruism [Kant]
6188 A permanent natural order could not universalise a rule permitting suicide [Kant]
6194 The highest worth for human beings lies in dispositions, not just actions [Kant]
6191 The will is the faculty of purposes, which guide desires according to principles [Kant]
6192 Good or evil cannot be a thing, but only a maxim of action, making the person good or evil [Kant]
6193 Our happiness is all that matters, not as a sensation, but as satisfaction with our whole existence [Kant]
6190 The sole objects of practical reason are the good and the evil [Kant]
6197 Morality involves duty and respect for law, not love of the outcome [Kant]
6196 People cannot come to morality through feeling, because morality must not be sensuous [Kant]
6195 Reason cannot solve the problem of why a law should motivate the will [Kant]
6198 Virtue is the supreme state of our pursuit of happiness, and so is supreme good [Kant]
6199 Obligation does not rest on the existence of God, but on the autonomy of reason [Kant]
1453 We have to postulate something outside nature which makes happiness coincide with morality [Kant]
1455 Belief in justice requires belief in a place for justice (heaven), a time (eternity), and a cause (God) [Kant, by PG]
1456 Moral law is holy, and the best we can do is achieve virtue through respect for the law [Kant]
6201 Everyone (even God) must treat rational beings as ends in themselves, and not just as means [Kant]
1452 Happiness is the condition of a rational being for whom everything goes as they wish [Kant]
1454 Morality is not about making ourselves happy, but about being worthy of happiness [Kant]
6200 Wisdom is knowing the highest good, and conforming the will to it [Kant]
6202 In all naturalistic concepts of God, if you remove the human qualities there is nothing left [Kant]
6205 To know if this world must have been created by God, we would need to know all other possible worlds [Kant]
6204 Using God to explain nature is referring to something inconceivable to explain what is in front of you [Kant]
6206 From our limited knowledge we can infer great virtues in God, but not ultimate ones [Kant]
6203 Metaphysics is just a priori universal principles of physics [Kant]
16926 Analytic judgements say clearly what was in the concept of the subject [Kant]
16927 Analytic judgement rests on contradiction, since the predicate cannot be denied of the subject [Kant]
16928 Mathematics cannot be empirical because it is necessary, and that has to be a priori [Kant]
16930 Geometry is not analytic, because a line's being 'straight' is a quality [Kant]
16929 7+5 = 12 is not analytic, because no analysis of 7+5 will reveal the concept of 12 [Kant]
16931 Metaphysics is generating a priori knowledge by intuition and concepts, leading to the synthetic [Kant]
16910 Mathematics can only start from an a priori intuition which is not empirical but pure [Kant]
16912 Some concepts can be made a priori, which are general thoughts of objects, like quantity or cause [Kant]
16911 Intuition is a representation that depends on the presence of the object [Kant]
16913 I can't intuit a present thing in itself, because the properties can't enter my representations [Kant]
16914 A priori intuition of objects is only possible by containing the form of my sensibility [Kant]
16915 A priori intuitions can only concern the objects of our senses [Kant]
16916 A priori synthetic knowledge is only of appearances, not of things in themselves [Kant]
16921 If all empirical sensation of bodies is removed, space and time are still left [Kant]
16917 All necessary mathematical judgements are based on intuitions of space and time [Kant]
16920 Numbers are formed by addition of units in time [Kant]
16918 Mathematics cannot proceed just by the analysis of concepts [Kant]
16919 Geometry rests on our intuition of space [Kant]
16922 Space must have three dimensions, because only three lines can meet at right angles [Kant]
16923 I admit there are bodies outside us [Kant]
16924 I count the primary features of things (as well as the secondary ones) as mere appearances [Kant]
21447 I can make no sense of the red experience being similar to the quality in the object [Kant]
16925 Appearance gives truth, as long as it is only used within experience [Kant]
11833 The substance, once the predicates are removed, remains unknown to us [Kant]
21441 'Transcendental' is not beyond experience, but a prerequisite of experience [Kant]
21955 My dogmatic slumber was first interrupted by David Hume [Kant]
21957 'Transcendental' concerns how we know, rather than what we know [Kant]
22441 The law will protect you if you tell a truth which results in murder [Kant]
22442 If lies were ever acceptable, with would undermine all duties based on contract [Kant]
21060 It can't be a duty to strive after the impossible [Kant]
21059 General rules of action also need a judgement about when to apply them [Kant]
21061 Duty does not aim at an end, but gives rise to universal happiness as aim of the will [Kant]
21062 The will's motive is the absolute law itself, and moral feeling is receptivity to law [Kant]
21063 Personal contracts are for some end, but a civil state contract involves a duty to share [Kant]
21064 A lawful civil state must embody freedom, equality and independence for its members [Kant]
21066 Citizens can rise to any rank that talent, effort and luck can achieve [Kant]
21065 You can't make a contract renouncing your right to make contracts! [Kant]
21067 A citizen must control his own life, and possess property or an important skill [Kant]
21068 There must be a unanimous contract that citizens accept majority decisions [Kant]
21069 A contract is theoretical, but it can guide rulers to make laws which the whole people will accept [Kant]
21070 A law is unjust if the whole people could not possibly agree to it [Kant]
21071 There can be no restraints on freedom if reason does not reveal some basic rights [Kant]
21072 The people (who have to fight) and not the head of state should declare a war [Kant]
21053 The manifest will in the world of phenomena has to conform to the laws of nature [Kant]
21054 Reason enables the unbounded extension of our rules and intentions [Kant]
21055 Our aim is a constitution which combines maximum freedom with strong restraint [Kant]
21056 The vitality of business needs maximum freedom (while avoiding harm to others) [Kant]
21057 The highest ideal of social progress is a universal cosmopolitan existence [Kant]
22275 Logic gives us the necessary rules which show us how we ought to think [Kant]
18261 A simplification which is complete constitutes a definition [Kant]
18260 If we knew what we know, we would be astonished [Kant]