Kant's foundational 1785 work establishes his theory of moral duty based on reason rather than emotion or consequence, introducing the famous categorical imperative as a universal test for ethical action. This German philosophical treatise, translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, argues that moral worth stems from acting according to principles that could become universal laws.
Ancient Greek philosophy was divided into three sciences: physics, ethics, and logic. This division is perfectly suitable to the nature of the thing; and the only improvement that can be made in it is to add the principle on which it is based, so that we may both satisfy ourselves of its completeness, and also be able to determine correctly the necessary subdivisions. All rational knowledge is either material or formal: the former considers some object, the latter is concerned only with the form of the understanding and of the reason itself, and with the universal laws of thought in general without distinction of its objects. Formal philosophy is called logic. Material philosophy, however, which has to do with determinate objects and the laws to which they are subject, is again twofold; for these laws are either laws of nature or of freedom. The science of the former is physics, that of …Continue reading →
This is the Thomas Kingsmill Abbott translation (1889), a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
This 18th-century German philosopher revolutionized ethics and epistemology, arguing that reason shapes our understanding of reality and that moral actions must follow universal principles. Living his entire life in Königsberg, he produced groundbreaking works like Critique of Pure Reason that still influence philosophy, politics, and human rights today. All works by Immanuel Kant →
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