The 75 best phrases of Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a famous German philosopher born in 1721 in Konigsberg, Prussia.
Kant is considered one of the most influential philosophers in modern Europe and also in universal philosophy. Some of his most relevant works are: "Critique of Pure Reason", "Critique of Judgment" or "The Metaphysics of Customs". Together with Hegel and Schopenhauer helped develop what would later become known as German idealism, a school of philosophy that has survived to the present day.
- It may interest you: "85 phrases by René Descartes to understand his thoughts"
Great phrases and reflections of Immanuel Kant
Kant's philosophy is still very important today, that is why we have made a selection of the 75 best phrases of Immanuel Kant, a thinker that is undoubtedly worth discovering and that you should know in depth.
1. God's will is not simply that we be happy, but that we make ourselves happy.
Being happy depends only on ourselves, achieving happiness will depend on our daily actions and our emotions.
2. Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of the imagination.
Happiness is an emotional state that resides in our mind, the mind is the key that can open our way to it.
3. I had to eliminate knowledge to make room for belief.
When we do not know how something works we tend to explain it through myths, in this way the first religions were born.
4. Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual game.
In order to fully understand an experience, we must first understand its theory. Theory and experience always go hand in hand.
5. Have the courage to use your own reason. That is the motto of enlightenment.
We should all reflect more on life, thinking is an exercise that many people do not do in their day to day.
6. Reading all the good books is like a conversation with the best minds of the past centuries.
Books are a door to the minds of great thinkers of the past, we must know how to appreciate and value them. Reading is a wonderful hobby.
7. We are not millionaires because of what we have, but because of what we can do without having any material resources.
The most positive experiences of our life are often free, such as walking, listening to music or reading.
8. Science is organized knowledge, wisdom is organized life.
A very curious quote in which Kant gives us his particular point of view on science and wisdom. Science and wisdom can act synergistically in our lives, since science is also the path to knowledge or wisdom.
9. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concept are blind.
Many of us do not stop to think seriously about our lives, we should stop more often to think calmly and deeply.
10. All the interests of my reason, speculative and practical, are combined in the following three questions: What can I know? What should I do? What can i expect
Every great philosophy begins by trying to answer a great question. Kant, as a good philosopher, asked himself many questions every day.
11. He who is mean to animals also becomes rude in his dealings with men. We can judge a man's heart by his treatment of animals.
Animals are often defenseless before us, whoever is capable of harming a defenseless animal could also harm a person.
12. Immaturity is the inability to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another.
When we accept advice from third parties we show how mature we are, advice can help us live our life in a better way.
13. The busier we are, the more acutely we feel what we are experiencing, the more we are aware of life.
Leading a busy life can make us feel like we are living much more fully. We must never fall into laziness.
14. Space and time are the framework within which the mind is pressured to build its experience of reality.
Our senses only show us a small part of the universe that surrounds us, human beings are limited by our own perception.
15. Enlightenment is man's liberation from his self-induced immaturity.
Enlightenment is a state of mental clarity that many people seek in their life. Do you think this state of mind really exists?
16. Out of the crooked wood of mankind, no straight thing has been made.
The human being is capable of doing the greatest things and also the most ruthless.
17. Be patient for a while, slander is short lived. The truth is the daughter of time, it will soon appear to vindicate you.
The truth always emerges over time, we should not use lies in our lives, because in the end it will be counterproductive.
18. Dare to think!
The search for knowledge is an adventure that has always accompanied the human being.
19. In all judgments in which we describe something as beautiful, we do not allow anyone to have another opinion.
Beauty is a personal perception, what may be beautiful for one person, may also not be for another.
20. Without man and his potential for moral progress, all of reality would be a mere desert, a thing in vain, with no final purpose.
As we can see, Kant thought that man gave meaning to the universe in which we live. Surely the universe would be much less interesting without us.
21. It is pure hypocrisy that there is a law to be hated or even despised, who then, continue to do good even knowing that they are at a disadvantage?
Laws determine what is right and what is wrong, but they may not be fair as well. We must heed our own thoughts.
22. Freedom does not determine anything with respect to our theoretical knowledge of nature, just as that the concept of nature determines nothing with respect to the practical laws of liberty.
Freedom is a right that always occurs naturally in nature, only human beings have practiced slavery.
23. It is always nice to remember that everything we conceptualize is capable of being done through reason.
It is thanks to the reason that we are able to devise a theory, the human being has shown to have a unique level of reasoning in the animal world.
24. Ingratitude is typical of evil in the world.
Evil is an intrinsic quality in the human being, since only the human being is capable of killing for pleasure and doing harm without reason.
25. A peace treaty that has been adjusted and negotiated with the mental reserve of certain motives capable of provoking the future or the start of another war should never be considered as valid.
Indeed, as this philosopher tells us, we must not close a false military conflict, the armistices have proven not to be useful over time.
26. All knowledge must, directly or indirectly, through certain representations, be related in ultimately with us, with sensitivity, because in no other way can meaning be given to U.S.
The search for knowledge has always accompanied the human being, its evolution would not be understood without it.
27. At some point, I had to deny knowledge to allow space for faith.
Science and religion have always found themselves in totally opposite positions, both doctrines must learn to live together and respect each other.
28. The sublime must always be extraordinary and the beautiful can be small. But what must be clear is that the sublime must be simple, as opposed to the beautiful, which can be constantly adorned and redecorated.
For something to be sublime it must have truly impressive characteristics, this adjective should not be used lightly.
29. The image of people who convince by their physical appearance, sometimes falls on other types of feelings.
Physical appearance and image are not the most important qualities of a person, their values and feelings must have much more value for us.
30. People who have a good heart, will go peacefully and educated for a complacency in the world. These types of individuals will always feel sincere compassion for the misery of others.
Without a doubt, good-hearted people should be valued and taken into account. Unfortunately, these types of people are rare.
31. In itself, beauty is astonishing and moving, or it is smiling and charming.
Beauty brings with it certain attributes that cannot be possessed in any other way, because in order to be a recipient of these attributes we must also be beautiful.
32. Simply turning a blind eye to mistrust can never be enough to overcome the uneasiness of reason.
We must be honest with those around us, turning a blind eye in certain cases will not convey what we really think about a certain topic.
33. Laughter is an effect from the sudden transformation of a high expectation into nothing.
Laughter can be given by many different emotional situations, both joy and disappointment.
34. Anarchy is law and independence without force. Despotism is law and impulse without freedom. Force is cruelty without freedom and law. Republicanism is impulse with independence and law.
As we can see from this quote, Kant was a staunch defender of republicanism, a type of society that many of us can agree with today.
35. Only a few have followed a fixed path and managed to escape immaturity through their own cultivation of thought.
Being able to develop ourselves intellectually is a job that can take us a lifetime. Many, over time, give up in their quest for greater wisdom.
36. Insufficiency in sanity is properly what is called "stupidity"; and for such failure, we do not know any remedy.
Good sense is a quality that many people are clearly lacking, we must learn to think before acting and consequently measure the repercussions of our actions.
37. Nothing can be imagined in the world, or even outside of it. Really, what can be considered good and unqualified, is always tied to a good will.
The will of people makes the world in which we live, a better or worse place according to our actions. We must act correctly and honestly in our life.
38. The woman yearns for the self-control of the man.
A very revealing phrase about what Kant thought about women. Do you think he was right?
39. The illustration is the departure of the minority of the man himself.
The illustration is a type of philosophy of which this philosopher was one of the greatest representatives of it.
40. When the shimmering glow of a summer night is filled with blazing stars and the moon itself is completely, slowly I am drawn into a state of enhanced sensitivity made of friendship and disdain for the world and eternity.
Knowing how to enjoy the little things in life is what can allow us to be completely happy.
41. Naturally, people adhere more to doctrines that require the least self-effort and less use of their own reason, and consequently, that they can better accommodate their duties to their inclinations.
Hard work has been something that people have always tried to avoid, but we must be aware that there is no substitute for hard work. In order to be successful, we must do our best.
42. Women always have a strong feeling about everything that is precious, distinguished and decorated.
Women have always felt a great fondness for activities such as decoration or the search for beauty, today this curious fact continues to happen regularly.
43. In the everyday life of mankind, respectable qualities of praise never meet with concurrent variations; the maximum imperfection seems rarely to be qualified.
In the daily lives of almost all people, the negative is much more abundant than the positive, the world has always seemed to lean towards the most despicable aspects of humanity.
44. Courage is glorious and cool; wit is always little, but it remains beautiful.
Both courage and ingenuity are two qualities that should be fostered in humanity, with ingenuity being the most important of the two.
45. The various feelings of enjoyment or anger do not prove the nature of the external things that they wake up, but they test how each person's own disposition can be easily transferred from pleasure To pain.
Indeed, our feelings do not tell us if something is right or wrong, they only tell us what we think about what we are experiencing.
46. Behave in such a way that you treat humanity in a particular way. Never treat people as if they were a means to an end, on the contrary, always treat people at the same time as if this were the ultimate end.
We must treat each other with the utmost respect and politeness, you never know what someone else is going through.
47. Don't try to search the crowd for certain kinds of favors. You rarely get information by honest and legal means. I recommend you always look at the testimony of a few: never count the voices, just take care to see how valuable they are in weight.
Being able to get good advice can be quite complicated, we must know how to surround ourselves with people whose advice can be really wise and useful for us.
48. You must always act in a way whereby your principle can become a safe law for the rest of the world.
We must act honestly with our principles, so others can know how they should act towards us.
49. Religion always results in the recognition of all our duties and obligations through divine scriptures.
Religion always grants rights and duties to its parishioners, by following any religion we must act in our lives according to these principles.
50. When we speak in terms of interest, what we call "likes" is everything that we connect with the importance of the existence of an object.
Indeed, when we say that we like something we are giving a certain value to that object. What most people like will always have a higher value in society.
51. The range within which we can use the power of knowledge according to our principles is the range within which the concepts initially have application.
We all have certain principles which we can modify according to the situation in which we we find, being flexible with them can benefit or harm us depending on the actions we take finished.
52. Because of a lie, a man is capable of annihilating his own dignity.
Lies are an evil that we must banish from society, a lie will always be harmful in the long run.
53. An action, to have moral value, must have been done from duty.
Those actions that we carry out in the line of duty always carry with them a high moral value. Fulfilling our obligation will always be a good thing in our lives.
54. There is something splendid about innocence, but it cannot be protected very well and is easily seduced.
Innocence is something that is always irretrievably lost over time, as society has always taken advantage of the innocent.
55. The new prejudices will serve as well as the old ones to imprison the great unthinking masses.
Prejudices are never positive, we must create our own idea about something with the fruit of our own experiences.
56. The step to being competent is considered very dangerous by the greatest portion of humanity.
We must be brave in our day to day life and strive to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.
57. All our knowledge begins with the senses, then proceeds with understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.
Thanks to the use of reason, men do not get carried away by our instincts, reason has the ability to become complete and thinking beings.
58. Genius is the ability to independently understand and come up with concepts that would normally have to be taught by someone else.
Great geniuses do not need to be taught by other people, with the use of their own intellect they alone can come to whatever conclusion someone else has reached in the past.
59. The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
Religious dogmas often do not stick to reality, we must guide our lives following our own moral principles.
60. Metaphysics is a dark ocean without coastlines or lighthouses, strewn with many philosophical ruins.
Metaphysics is a really complicated type of science to understand, as few people know how to defend themselves in the labyrinth of theories that is metaphysics.
61. Even philosophers will praise war as ennobling for humanity, forgetting the Greeks who said: bad is war that begets more evil than it eliminates.
War is a detrimental situation for all its members, the collateral damage in it is never justified and is usually very numerous.
62. You don't have to live happily as long as you live, but you do need to do so honorably.
Without a doubt, honor was something important to Immanuel Kant, being a respectful and honorable person will allow us to have a good position in society.
63. Morality is not the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy, but about how we make ourselves worthy of happiness.
A life of morality will definitely bring us closer to happiness than a life lacking in it. Achieving happiness is a difficult task, but our daily actions can make us worthy of it.
64. There is no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.
Our daily experiences are the first step towards full knowledge about something, personal experiences give us a brief description of the topic we are interested in.
65. The opinion that others may have about your merit and judgment is a very compelling motivation that has taken away many sacrifices in the long run.
We should not give too much importance to the opinions of others, using the criticism of other people as motivation can be the fuel we need to improve.
66. The rules for happiness: something to do, something to love, something to look forward to.
Happiness can be given by our daily activity, our personal relationships and our illusions. These three aspects are essential to be able to live a full life.
67. Man must be disciplined, as he is by nature raw and wild.
Discipline can allow us to achieve our personal goals, or at least it will help us enormously.
68. Look closely, the beautiful can be small.
The smallest things can also be very beautiful, knowing how to look carefully can bring us many joys in our lives.
69. To be is to do.
The things we do in our day to day tell us who we really are, in a certain way we can say that we are what we do.
70. A man is guilty before the law when he violates the rights of another, in ethics he is guilty just for thinking of doing it.
Thinking of doing evil is not a crime, but it is effectively not ethically correct.
71. If man makes himself a worm, he should not complain when he is trampled on.
Nature can be truly cruel, in order to be successful in our life we must be highly competitive.
72. Live your life as if your every action will become universal law.
We should not perform actions that do not really represent us as individuals. Our daily actions can do a lot of damage to third parties, so we must think them very well before doing them.
73. We all know where human beings come from, where they want to go, few of us know.
Our destiny In life it is something that only concerns us, our actions will determine if we manage to reach our dreamed destination or if, on the contrary, we do not achieve it.
74. The law is the set of conditions that allow the freedom of each to accommodate the freedom of all.
Our freedoms end where the freedoms of others begin, in order to live in society we need laws that protect our freedoms and obligations.
75. Freedom is that faculty that increases the usefulness of all other faculties.
Every man and woman need freedom to be able to live their life fully, the right to freedom must be inalienable to the human being.