Quotes About Philosophy

My object is to persuade all those who think metaphysics worth studying that it is absolutely necessary to pause a moment and, disregarding all that has been done, to propose first the preliminary question, "Whether such a thing as metaphysics be at all possible?

From such crooked timber as humankind is made of nothing entirely straight can be made.

T]o be unfaithful to my maxim of prudence may often be very advantageous to me, although to abide by it is certainly safer.

People who read mainly the Grounding and the Critique often criticize Kant for having his head in the clouds and for not being convincingly capable of dealing with concrete cases. A reading of the Metaphysics of Morals will show anyone how unfounded such criticisms are.

I]f I know that it is only by this process that the intended operation can be performed, then to say that if I fully will the operation, I also will the action required for it, is an analytical proposition...

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made

Philosophy may be said to contain the principles of the rational cognition that concepts

Man's greatest concern is to know how he shall properly fill his place in the universe and correctly understand what he must be in order to be a man.

Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or a lighthouse

The sight of a being who is not adorned with a single feature of a pure and good will, enjoying unbroken prosperity, can never give pleasure to an impartial rational spectator. Thus a good will appears to constitute the indispensable condition even of being worthy of happiness.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no truly straight thing was ever made.

An appeal to the consent of the common sense of mankind cannot be allowed, for that is a witness whose authority depends merely upon rumor. Says Horace: Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.

A good will is good not because of what it performs or effects, not by its aptness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by virtue of the volition - that is, it is good in itself, and considered by itself is to be esteemed much higher than all that can be brought about by it in favor of any inclination, nay, even of the sum-total of all inclinations... like a jewel, it would still shine by its own light, as a thing which has its whole value in itself.

many things must remain uncertain, and many a question insoluble, because what we know of nature is by no means sufficient, in all cases, to explain what has to be explained.

Gustavo Solivellas dice: La felicidad no es un ideal de la razón, sino de la imaginación (Immanuel Kant)

purposes are imposed on nature violently and dictatorially, instead of being sought by means of physical investigation.

In other words, it must be the same to you, when you do perceive this unity, whether we say, God has wisely willed it so, or nature has wisely arranged it so.

Would it not therefore be wiser in moral concerns to acquiesce in the judgement of common reason, or at most only to call in philosophy for the purpose of rendering the system of morals more complete and intelligible, and its rules more convenient for use (especially for disputation), but not so as to draw off the common understanding from its happy simplicity, or to bring it by means of philosophy into a new path of inquiry and instruction?

Um fremden Wert willig und frei anzuerkennen, muß man eigenen haben.

Jeg skal alltid handle slik at den regelen jeg handler etter kunne gjelde som allmenn lov.

if the unfortunate man, strong of soul, more indignant about his fate than despondent or dejected, wishes for death, and yet preserves his life, without loving it, not from inclination, or fear, but from duty; then his maxim has a moral content.

Gustavo Solivellas dice: Incluso los filósofos elogiarán la guerra como ennobleciendo a la humanidad, olvidando al griego que dijo: La guerra es mala porque engendra más mal que el que mata (Immanuel Kant)

Freedom (independence) from the laws of nature is no doubt a liberation from restraint, but also from the guidance of all rules.

reason only perceives that which it produces after its own design;