“[A man] finds in himself a talent which with the help of some culture might make him a useful man in many respects. But he finds himself in comfortable circumstances and prefers to indulge in pleasure rather than to take pains in enlarging and improving his happy natural capacities. He asks, however, whether his maxim of neglect of his natural gifts, besides agreeing with his inclination to indulgence, agrees also with what is called duty. He sees then that a system of nature could indeed subsist with such a universal law, [where] men... let their talents rest and resolve to devote their lives merely to idleness, amusement, and propagation of their species - in a word, to enjoyment; but he cannot possibly will that this should be a universal law of nature, or be implanted in us as such by a natural instinct. For, as a rational being, he necessarily wills that his faculties be developed, since they serve him, and have been given him, for all sorts of possible purposes.”

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About Immanuel Kant

German philosopher

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher of the Enlightenment, born in Königsberg in the Kingdom of Prussia. He remains a central figure in modern Western philosophy. His work ranged across epistemology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, political theory, and philosophy of religion. These wide-ranging writings made him one of the most influential and closely discussed thinkers in the modern tradition.

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Books by Immanuel Kant

Kritik der reinen Vernunft

2007

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Kritik der praktischen Vernunft

2007

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Kritik der Urteilskraft

1970

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Prolegomena

2005

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The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics

2006

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