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Categorical Imperative Quotes

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Categorical Imperative Quotes

“I felt that the metal of my spirit, like a bar of iron that is softened and bent by a persistent flame, was being gradually softened and bent by the troubles that oppressed it. In spite of myself, I was conscious of a feeling of envy for those who did not suffer from such troubles, for the wealthy and the privileged; and this envy, I observed, was accompanied—still against my will—by a feeling of bitterness towards them, which, in turn, did not limit its aim to particular persons or situations, but, as if by an uncontrollable bias, tended to assume the general, abstract character of a whole conception of life. In fact, during those difficult days, I came very gradually to feel that my irritation and my intolerance of poverty were turning into a revolt against injustice, and not only against the injustice which struck at me personally but the injustice from which so many others like me suffered. I was quite aware of this almost imperceptible transformation of my subjective resentments into objective reflections and states of mind, owing to the bent of my thoughts which led always and irresistibly in the same direction: owing also to my conversation, which, without my intending it, alway harped upon the same subject. I also noticed in myself a growing sympathy for those political parties which proclaimed their struggle against the evils and infamies of the society to which, in the end I had attributed the troubles that beset me—a society which, as I thought, in reference to myself, allowed its best sons to languish and protected its worst ones. Usually, and in the simpler, less cultivated people, this process occurs without their knowing it, in the dark depths of consciousness where, by a kind of mysterious alchemy, egoism is transmuted into altruism, hatred into love, fear into courage; but to me, accustomed as I was to observing and studying myself, the whole thing was clear and visible, as though I were watching it happen in someone else; and yet I was aware the whole time that I was being swayed by material subjective factors, that I was transforming purely personal motives into universal reasons.”

CharacterFree WillAlienationItalyObjectivitySubjectivityHegelCategorical ImperativeEssentialismPolitical AnimalUniversal Reasons
Book:Contempt
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“Kantian ethical theory distinguishes three levels: First, that of a fundamental principle (the categorical imperative, formulated in three main ways in Kant's Groundwork); second, a set of duties, not deduced from but derived from this principle, by way of its interpretation or specification, its application to the general conditions of human life - which Kant does in the Doctrine of virtue, the second main part of the Metaphysics of Morals; and then finally an act of judgment, through which these duties are applied to particular cases.”

WayFirstsHumansDoeThreeLevelsMoralPrinciplesCasesVirtueConditionsParticularDutyTheoryJudgmentFundamentalsDoctrineHuman LifeInterpretationEthicalApplicationMetaphysicsImperativesFundamental PrinciplesGroundworkSpecificationsCategorical Imperative
Author:Allen W. Wood
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“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”

MenHeartHardAnimalJudgingCreaturesTreatsCrueltyPetTreatmentThought ProvokingVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsJudgedVegetarianismVeganismAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LoveDealingsVegetarian HealthAnimal WorldPlants And AnimalsPet AnimalsDog RescueAnimal EthicsAnimal AbuseCruel WorldAnimals In NatureKindness To AnimalsAnimal RescueNature And AnimalsCategorical ImperativeTreatment Of AnimalsCompanion AnimalsDangerous AnimalsIll TreatmentCreatures Of The EarthThose Who Judge
Book:Lectures on Ethics
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“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”

ShouldLawTimeUniversalMaximsUniversal LawsCategorical Imperative
Book:Ethical Philosophy: The Complete Texts of Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, and Metaphysical Principles of Virtue, Part II of The Metaphysics of Morals, with On a Supposed Right to Lie Because of Philanthropic Concerns
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“Early on, I learnt from the Russian intelligentsia that the only meaning of life lies in conscious participation in the making of history. The more I think of that, the more deeply true it seems to be. It follows that one must range oneself actively against everything that diminishes man, and involve oneself in all struggles which tend to liberate and enlarge him. This categorical imperative is by no way lessened by the fact that such an involvement is inevitably soiled by error: it is a worse error merely to live for oneself, caught within traditions which are soiled by inhumanity.”

ThinkingMenWayFactsSeemsLyingStruggleConsciousTraditionErrorsOneselfCaughtRangeMeaning Of LifeParticipationDiminishImperativesInvolvementInhumanityCategorical Imperative
Book:Memoirs of a Revolutionary
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