“Have the courage to use your own understanding! — that is the motto of enlightenment.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
knowledgefreedomself
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Immanuel Kant
1724–1804 · Critical philosophy · Enlightenment
Immanuel Kant spent his career in Königsberg, born in 1724, died in 1804. The Critique of Pure Reason argues that the mind contributes the forms through which objects are known, that thoughts without content are empty and intuitions without concepts are blind, and that the 'I think' must be able to accompany all my representations.
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The second-edition preface says he had to deny knowledge to make room for faith, and faith there renders Glauben, set against knowledge, not a church creed alone. A rival reading hears a religious confession, and both readings belong in any honest note. The Groundwork of 1785 opens from the good will, states the categorical imperative, the formula of humanity, and autonomy as the will's being a law to itself.
The 1784 essay tells the public to have the courage to use its own understanding. Toward Perpetual Peace gives preliminary articles for treaties that are not stored wars. Mary Gregor translates the moral works. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood translate the first Critique. He is difficult, and the difficulty is not optional decoration.
Start here
What Is Enlightenment, then the Groundwork, section 1, in Gregor
The essay is short and public. The Groundwork's opening shows the good will before the formulas multiply. The Critique can wait until those are in hand.
Quotations
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
ethicsjusticevirtue
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“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
meaningethicsmind
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“It is impossible to think of anything at all in the world, or indeed even beyond it, that could be considered good without limitation except a good will.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
ethicsvirtuemind
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“So act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
ethicsjusticevirtue
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“I had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
knowledgemeaningfreedom
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“Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
knowledgemind
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“The I think must be able to accompany all my representations.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
mindselfknowledge
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“No treaty of peace shall be held to be valid if it was made with a secret reservation of the material for a future war.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
justicesocietypower
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“Autonomy of the will is the property of the will by which it is a law to itself.”
Immanuel Kant · Critical philosophy
freedomethicsself
Paraphrase or translation
Key ideas
Good will
Only a good will is good without limitation, because talents and happiness can be put to bad use.
Categorical imperative
Act only on a maxim that can be willed as universal law, and treat humanity never merely as a means.
Autonomy
A free will gives itself the moral law, which is not the same as doing what one already wants.
Limits of knowledge
Speculative reason cannot know God, freedom, or immortality as objects, and that limit is what makes room for moral faith.
Major works
Critique of Pure Reason (1781, second edition 1787)
Guyer and Wood. B xxx, the empty-and-blind sentence, and the 'I think' passage are the usual doors.
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
Gregor's English. The good will, the formulas, and autonomy.
Toward Perpetual Peace (1795)
A public proposal. The first preliminary article refuses a treaty that banks the next war.
Influences
- David Hume
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- John Locke
- Leibniz
- Newton
Influenced
Common misreadings
- Autonomy means being true to one's preferences.
- Deny knowledge in order to make room for faith means a church creed replaces science.
Famous lines Immanuel Kant never said
None of the lines this library files for Immanuel Kant is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
What Is Enlightenment, then the Groundwork, section 1, in Gregor The essay is short and public. The Groundwork's opening shows the good will before the formulas multiply. The Critique can wait until those are in hand.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Immanuel Kant that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Have the courage to use your own understanding! — that is the motto of enlightenment.” (An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment? (1784), Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Immanuel Kant is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Good will: Only a good will is good without limitation, because talents and happiness can be put to bad use.