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oretical and practical – which arises out of the postulate of freedom and is therefore immune from the onslaught of philosophical determinism which in Kant’s day was already threatening to undermine the notion of freedom. Kant’s practical reason is founded on this freedom; and yet it remains reason, and therefore cannot be satisfied with mere experience and sentiment. Kant’s most important discovery, which to this day determines a significant part of practical philosophy, is the categorical imperative. It is a fundamental principle and does not serve the discovery of truth or natural laws, but rather it commands us. Kant chose the term ‘imperative’; his successors speak of ‘prescriptive’ or ‘counterfactual’ utterances. Unlike the common hypothetical imperatives, which are conditioned or dictated by certain ends – ‘if you want x, do y’ – the categorical imperative is unconditional; it must be equally valid for everyone, everywhere, all the time, and entirely independent of all other considerations. In his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals Kant formulates it in these terms: Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
From this he deduces this conclusion: Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.
Finally, he stresses again the axiomatic nature of this imperative and places it on the plane of rationally understood rules of nature: Act as though the maxim of your action were to become by your will a universal law of nature.196
In order to understand Kant properly, it is necessary to explain the character of his ‘maxim’ and its relationship to (moral) rules. In a paper published after his death, Kant explains it in this way: ‘The character of man demands that he first set himself maxims and only then rules. Rules, if they are not restricted by maxims, are mere pedantry... they are mere walking frames (Gangelwägen) for children. Maxims must deter196 The word Naturgesetz (natural law) is for Kant a philosophical term, not an empirical, scientific one; and it refers to something that is beyond human control. This differentiates it from the similar-sounding utterances of Hume.
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