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The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant Translated by Philip McPherson Rudisill Posted September 18, 2012 Edited as of 5/31/2021 Beginning on page xiii of Kant’s Religion Within The Bounds Of Sheer Reason a concise summary of this Critique of Practical Reason is available. The numbering of sentences and paragraphs has originated with this translator. The number 1.1, for example, denotes the first paragraph in a given section and the first sentence of that paragraph, while a sentence numbered 2.4 indicates it is the fourth sentence of the second paragraph. Table of Contents Technical Notes By Translator Preface Introduction FIRST BOOK Analytic Of Pure Practical Reason First Part 1. The Fundamental Principles of Pure Practical Reason Practical foundational principles are principles which contain a universal determination of the will, which in turn themselves contain several practical rules. 2. Theorem I All practical principles which presuppose an object (a material) for the capacity of desire as a determination basis of the will, are all together empirical and can render no practical laws. 3. Theorem II All material practical principles, as such, are entirely of one and the same sort, and are grouped under the general principle of self love or personal happiness. 4. Theorem III If a rational being had to think his maxims as practical, universal laws, then he could only think them as such principles which contained the determination basis of the will with regard to their form, and not to their material. 5. 1st Task Assuming that the sheer legislating form of the maxims were of itself the sufficient determina- tion basis of a will, we are to find the constitution of such a will (that were so determinable). 6. 2nd Task Supposing that a will were free, what would be the law uniquely suited to determine it necessarily? 7. Fundamental Principle of Pure Practical Reason Act in such a way that the maxim of your will can always simultaneously hold as a principle of a universal legislation. 8. Theorem IV The autonomy of the will is the solitary principle of all moral laws and of the duties conformable to them. In contrast to this no obligation whatsoever is established through any heteronomy of discretionary choice. In fact this would be contrary to the principle of such autonomy and to the morality of the will. I. Deduction of the Foundational Propositions of Pure Practical Reason II. The Authority of Pure Reason in its Practical Sphere to an Expansion which is not possible for it as such in the Speculative. Second Part The Concept of an Object of Pure Practical Reason Typic of Pure Practical Judgmental capacity Third Part The Incentives of Pure Practical Reason Critical Illumination of the Analytic of Pure Practical Reason iv SECOND BOOK Dialectic of Pure Practical Reason First Part Dialectic of Pure Practical Reason in General Second Part The Dialectic of Pure Reason in the Determination of the Concept of the Highest Good I. The Antinomy of Practical Reason II. Critical Neutralization of the Antinomy of Practical Reason III. Primacy of Pure Practical Reason in its Connection with the Speculative IV. Immortality of the Soul as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason V. The Existence of God as a Postulate of Pure Practical Reason VI. Postulates of Pure Practical Reason in General VII. How an Expansion of Pure Reason in a Practical Intention be Possible to think, without at the same time in that way expanding its Realization as Speculative VIII. The Avowal out of a Need of Pure Reason IX. Concerning the Proportion wisely commensurate to the Practical Determination of the Human Recognitional Capacity Doctrine of Method of Pure Practical Reason Conclusion iv Technical Notes By Translator Anschauung I render in English with “perspective” although “intuition” is far more common in translations of Kant’s works. The suggestion of “etwas anschauen” in German is “looking at something” or “viewing something”. According to one person’s Anschauung there is a face of a wolf in the cloud, and according to that of another person there will be no such face, but rather the form of a fish or perhaps nothing but a cloud. I am also partial to “sighting”, e.g., in my sighting I see the face of a cloud. Or: the face is not in the cloud, but only in one’s looking at1 the cloud. “Viewing” can also suggest much of this. And we might speak of someone’s “take” on something, i.e., what that person gleans from that something. I have also often used “envisage- ment” and like the suggestion of putting a face on something. In general the suggestion of An- schauung is a direct and personal receipt of information without any use of reasoning. For exam- ple I see that one object is to the left of another; and I see that directly and immediately. For more on this see Anschauung. Erkenntniss. The root of this word is “kennen” which means to know or to have familiarity with. In all of my translations I have used “recognition” over the more commonly used “knowl- edge”. Erscheinung. For this I use “appearance” which is very common, although I have also utilized “specter” in some other works on Kant. When St. Paul reports seeing a Jesus-in-the-sky this is given in German as an Erscheinung. There is a suggestion of “shining forth”. The rainbow is considered to be an Erscheinung by the Germans. The appearance of water on the heated road ahead which vanishes as you approach it is an Erscheinung. So the word has an affinity also with “mirage” and “hallucination”. The import for the student of Kant is that this appearance is not a thing which exists on its own as it appears, but which has its existence solely within the percep- tion. Idea is a technical term for Kant and I render it always as “Idea” and not with a lower case i. Generally it denotes a concept for which no object can be given corresponding to it, at least not given to the human who is limited to a sensitive perspective of things. For example there may be a soul, but this is not subject to a perspective through any looking whatsoever. Thus the soul would be an Idea. Schein I translate as “semblance”. Another possibility would be “illusion”. The implication is that of some misleading. Triebfeder. This I render with “incentive”. It refers immediately and, in a technical sense, to the mainspring of a watch. It could also be rendered as motivating force or incentive force. I have also considered “drive”. 1 This is the literal translation of Anschauung; ich schaue das an = I’m looking at that. Vernüfteln is a disparaging term which is rooted in “Vernunft” (reason) and for which I use “ra- tional contriving” though “rationalization” or “rational concocting” could also work. Willkür is rendered as “discretionary choice”. Also “arbitrary choice” might work as well. Concerning This Translation I have chosen to number each of Kant’s sentences and paragraphs in a format such as 4.2, which would indicate the fourth paragraph (of a given section) and then the second sentence of that paragraph. I may break up Kant’s sentences into several, but they will be included all together under that single number. For example, sentence 4.2 of the Preface reads: 4.2 For the Ideas of God and immortality are not conditions of the moral law, but rather only conditions of the necessary object of a will determined through that law, i.e., merely of the practical usage of our pure reason. Therefore we not only cannot recognize nor pene- trate the actuality of these Ideas, but indeed not even their possibility. And so here I have divided the original German sentence into two English sentences, but still under the indicator of sentence 4.2. My comments are given as footnotes to the text. Kant’s own footnotes I have shown as paragraph notes, following the relevant paragraph, and I have used a smaller font and a greater indentation. The reader is invited to consider Kant in a Nutshell for a cursory and incomplete review of Kant’s effort in the Critique of Pure Reason (CPR), the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Moral (GMM), the Critique of Practical Reason (CPrR) and Religion Within The Bounds Of Sheer Rea- son (Religion). This may help in establishing the context of this present work as well as a short summary. A complete list of the translations and essays by this author can be found at: https://kantwesley.com I cordially invite the reader who spies any errors or has any suggestions to contact me at [email protected]. The translation now follows. vi The Critique of Practical Reason by Immanuel Kant Translated by Philip McPherson Rudisill Preface 1.1 This critique is entitled only a critique of practical reason in general, and not rather a cri- tique of pure practical reason, even though a comparison with speculative reason would seem to suggest the latter. The reason for this is given an adequate explanation in the trea- tise itself, 1.2 for here we are to establish merely that there is a pure practical reason and then to critique its entire practical capacity.2 1.3 If we succeed in doing this, there is no need to critique the pure capacity itself in order to determine whether reason might not have presumptuously overstepped its bounds with such a capacity (which indeed is the case with speculative reason); 2 This would mean to show that pure reason is able to determine and direct the will without the necessary presupposition of some object of desire, i.e., that this can be done immediately by reason alone.
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