Kant’s “Critique of Practical Reason”.

“Critique of Practical Reason” was written by Immanuel Kant. Below are some paraphrased (not quoted) thoughts found in his text. They won’t necessary reflect my thoughts on a given subject.

1. There’s no need for laws if freedom doesn’t exist.
2. If you have knowledge, you may want to share it.
3. If you don’t wish to share your knowledge, maybe you don’t actually have it.
4. Freedom is an important concept for morals.
5. You needn’t to come up with new words if there are already words to describe what you are saying.
6. You can’t rationally prove that reason doesn’t exist.
7. While mathematics can prove that matter can be infinitely divided, that’s not possible in practice.
8. Hume wasn’t as skeptical as it’s often believed.
9. Difference between laws and personal principles is that laws try to be universally valid.
10. “Imperative” is a practical rule with a practical goal.
11. An imperative is always objective.
12. A “hypothetical imperative” is a practical rule that is only valid if I have means to attain the goal (the goal must be particular), but a “categorical imperative” is a practical rule that remains valid no matter if I have means to attain that goal or not (in this case, the goal is general, universal).
13. Plus, a I can reject a hypothetical imperative (because the goal is particular), but, from an ethical point of view, I can not reject a categorical imperative, if it’s really categorical (because the goal is not particular).
14. A practical principle (“maxim”) has personal happiness as goal.
15. You are considered happy if you like your life.
16. There are “delicate” pleasures, such as the intellectual ones.
17. It’s your responsibility to be consistent between your actions and thoughts.
18. All actions have happiness as goal.
19. Being “happy” implies liking things the way they currently are (if you are unhappy with things the way they are, you may want to change them until you like them).
20. Sometimes we do things thinking they would bring happiness, but we may be wrong.
21. There’s no need for a law that says “love yourself”.
22. You can’t expect everyone to act the way you do.
23. If a categorial imperative really is categorical, it has to be universal.
24. Even if everyone wants the same thing, they won’t want it the same way.
25. Your will is truly free when you don’t have to care about anything other than yourself in your decision-making.
26. You aren’t free from physics.
27. Under the correct conditions, a strong impulse can be resisted.
28. Dying for a good cause isn’t wrong.
29. Before you act, think: “what if everyone else did what I’m about to do?”
30. Human volition can be pure, but never holy.
31. If there’s no volition, there should be no laws either.
32. If my maxims take other people into account, they may be generalized.
33. It’s unfair to be on the receinving end of injustice and still not do anything about it.
34. Prudence is acting according to self-preservation.
35. Maxims are advice, laws are orders.
36. You can’t demand others to have something, such as happiness, when I don’t have that thing myself.
37. Satisfaction is often out of reach.
38. Some people do feel guilt for being benefited by an unfair act.
39. A disporportional punishment is abuse.
40. If you say that the real crime is receiving punishment, you are implying that it’s only bad if you are caught.
41. A criminal who feels bad over what he did actually has a sense of morality.
42. It’s also a virtue to do good deeds without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.
43. If my actions are guided by a sensible goal, that goal is subjective.
44. Don’t mistake cause and effect.
45. Is causality an illusion?
46. That doesn’t mean that truth is impossible, but that data extracted from phenomena is not absolute.
47. Intellectuals tend to be more skeptical than common people.
48. Affirmations based on causality aren’t absolute.
49. Some people speak words that are devoid of meaning.
50. The pure practical reason studies the effects of freedom.
51. Your language may harm your reasoning, if it’s limited, even if your thoughts were translated into another language.
52. There’s a difference between being (nature) and being (condition).
53. A person can receive a painful benefit.
54. You can’t make a law that says “seek pleasure and flee from pain”, because every person seeks pleasure and flees from pain in their own personal ways.
55. You can’t pretend that an issue is solved if there was no conclusive debate on that.
56. A person can hide their ignorance by using ambiguous words.
57. Don’t give to others something you wouldn’t give to yourself.
58. Empiricism often has nothing to do with morals.
59. You can’t respect belongings, only people.
60. When you admit that someone is superior, your reverence is sincere.
61. A person can respect someone else, but without making it clear that such respect exists.
62. Every limited creature can act on interest or according to maxims.
63. Laws aren’t needed to do good deeds.
64. There are two ways to follow a law: literally or pragmatically (achieving the same goal that the law tries to achieve, but without obeying the law literally).
65. If you do your job, others should follow you as role model.
66. Don’t use people as instruments: if you need someone’s help, make sure they will also get a benefit out of that.
67. Duty has nothing to do with happiness.
68. If there’s a problem in your reasoning and someone points it, admit your mistake.
69. It’s impossible to know something “as it truly is”, but only “as my senses perceive it”.
70. A person who doesn’t share their knowledge for public well-being can not be labelled a “philosopher”.
71. Something is logical by identity and real by causality.
72. Virtue and happiness may not converge.
73. Making a poor use of reason is as valid as not using reason at all.
74. There’s no interest without practical consequence.
75. Faith (believing without proof) can have a rational foundation.
76. Duty isn’t fear and isn’t hope.
77. The value of a virtue may have no correlation with the advantage it brings.
78. Self-respect originates when you realize that you are free.
79. It’s freedom that gives me relevance in the universe.
80. If you are going after hypothetical treasures, at least don’t neglect the real treasures.