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Single Idea 3711

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 6. Motivation for Duty ]

Full Idea

A good will seems to constitute the indispensable condition of our very worthiness to be happy.

Gist of Idea

Only a good will makes us worthy of happiness

Source

Immanuel Kant (Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals [1785], 393.2)

Book Ref

Kant,Immanuel: 'The Moral Law (Groundwork of Morals)', ed/tr. Paton,H.J. [Hutchinson 1948], p.59

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]
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]
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]
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]
9347 A priori knowledge is indispensable for the possibility and certainty of experience [Kant]
5523 Causation obviously involves necessity, so it cannot just be frequent association [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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
6203 Metaphysics is just a priori universal principles of physics [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]
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]
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]
16921 If all empirical sensation of bodies is removed, space and time are still left [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]