Categorical Imperative — The supreme principle of Immanuel Kant’s morality, set out in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). An imperative is a formula that expresses a duty; it is categorical (from the Latin categoricus, “affirmative, unconditional”) when it commands an action as objectively necessary in itself, without making it depend on any end or desire. In this it differs from the hypothetical imperative, which prescribes a means to a particular end (“if you want to be respected, keep your promises”) and binds only those who pursue that end. The categorical imperative, by contrast, holds for every rational being as such. Kant presents it in formulations he regards as equivalent. The formula of universal law commands: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law” — the test being whether the maxim (the subjective rule of the action) could be universalized without contradiction. The formula of humanity orders us to treat humanity, in one’s own person and in that of any other, “always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means,” acknowledging the dignity of the rational person. The third, the kingdom of ends, conceives each rational being as a legislator of universal moral laws. A classic example is the false promise: one who promises with no intention of keeping it cannot will lying to become a universal law, for that would destroy the very institution of promising. The imperative is thus bound to the autonomy of the will, which gives the moral law to itself, in contrast to heteronomy, where the will is determined by inclinations or external authorities.
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