The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
— Immanuel KantAs quoted in Faith Or Fact (1897) by Henry Moorehouse Taber, p. 86
Use itEssay on reason vs dogma; morality flourishes when blind dogma ends.
Quotes / Thinkers / Immanuel Kant
Thinker · 22 quotes
Immanuel Kant quotes for UPSC
22 sourced quotes by Immanuel Kant on ethics & morality, education & knowledge, truth & wisdom, integrity & honesty, character & virtue, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.
— Immanuel KantCritique of Practical Reason (1788)
Use itGS4: morality is about becoming worthy of happiness, not chasing it.
Act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, at all times also as an end, and not only as a means.
Use itGS4: treat citizens as ends not means; dignity in welfare delivery or business ethics.
There is nothing at all in the world that one can think of, or even out of it, that can be held good without qualification, except a good will. (Ch. 1)
Use itGS4: Kant on good will; intention as the only unconditional good.
There is … only a single categorical imperative and it is this: Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
Use itGS4 case study: test a decision by asking if it could become a universal rule.
Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
— Immanuel KantVariant translations
Use itGS4 intro on conscience; awe at the inner moral law guides conduct.
The deceiver is really the fool.
— Immanuel KantKant, Immanuel (1996), page 101
Use itGS4: deception ultimately harms the deceiver most.
By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man. A man who himself does not believe what he tells another … has even less worth than if he were a mere thing. … makes himself a mere deceptive appearance of man, not man himself.
— Immanuel KantDoctrine of Virtue as translated by Mary J. Gregor (1964), p. 93
Use itGS4: Kant on lying; deception destroys one's own human dignity.
Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.
Use itEssay on human imperfection; design institutions assuming flawed humans.
However, he who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards that he gets stepped on.
Use itLife/GS4: self-respect—those who demean themselves invite being trampled.
A person who already displays … cruelty to animals is also no less hardened towards men. We can already know the human heart, even in regard to animals.
Use itGS4 on animal welfare; cruelty to animals reveals and breeds cruelty to humans.
The greatest problem for the human race, to the solution of which Nature drives man, is the achievement of a universal civic society which administers law among men.
— Immanuel KantFifth Thesis
Use itEssay on global governance; a universal law-governed civic order as humanity's greatest challenge.
Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity; and is independence on the will and co-action of every other in so far as this consists with every other person’s freedom.
— Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Ethics by Immanuel Kant, trans. J.W. Semple, ed. with Iintroduction by Rev. Henry Calderwood (Edinburgh: T
Use itGS2 on Article 21/19: freedom as birthright, limited by others' equal freedom.
Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. The understanding can intuit nothing, the senses can think nothing. Only through their unison can knowledge arise.
Use itEssay on education; theory without experience is empty, experience without concepts is blind.
Through failures one becomes intelligent; but the one who has trained himself in this subject so that he can make others wise through their own failures, has used his intelligence. Ignorance is not stupidity.
— Immanuel KantKant, Immanuel (1996), page 100
Use itLife/Interview: failures make us intelligent; ignorance is not stupidity.
Through laziness and cowardice a large part of mankind, even after nature has freed them from alien guidance, gladly remain immature. It is because of laziness and cowardice that it is so easy for others to usurp the role of guardians. It is so comfortable to be a minor!
— Immanuel KantWhat is Enlightenment? (1784)
Use itEssay on Enlightenment or critical thinking; laziness and cowardice keep people dependent.
It is precisely in knowing its limits that philosophy consists.
Use itEssay on humility in knowledge; wisdom begins with knowing one's limits.
Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.
— Immanuel KantAs quoted in Gems of Thought (1888) edited by Charles Northend
Use itLife/GS4: when falsely accused, be patient—truth emerges with time.
The guidelines for achieving wisdom consist of three leading maxims: 1) Think for yourself; 2) (in communication with other people) Put yourself in the place of the other person; 3) Always think by remaining faithful to your own self.
— Immanuel KantKant, Immanuel (1996), page 95
Use itGS4: three maxims—independent thought, empathy, and staying true to oneself.
Religion is too important a matter to its devotees to be a subject of ridicule. If they indulge in absurdities, they are to be pitied rather than ridiculed.
— Immanuel KantA lecture at Königsberg (1775), as quoted in A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources (1946)
Use itGS4/Essay on secularism; respect believers' sentiments—never ridicule faith.
The public use of a man's reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment among men...
— Immanuel KantWhat is Enlightenment? (1784)
Use itGS2 on Article 19; free public reasoning is the basis of an enlightened society.
A mind of slow apprehension is therefore not necessarily a weak mind. The one who is alert with abstractions is not always profound, he is more often very superficial.
— Immanuel KantKant, Immanuel (1996), page 99
Use itLife: slow learners need not despair—depth matters more than quickness.