Encyclopedia > Hypothetical imperative

  Article Content

Hypothetical imperative

A hypothetical imperative, in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, is a command that applies only conditionally: if A, then B, where A is a condition or goal, and B is an action. For example, if you wish to remain healthy, then you should not eat spoiled food. Thus, a hypothetical imperative is not justified in itself, but as a means to an end; whether it is in force as a command depends on whether the end it helps attain is desired (or required). The opposite of a hypothetical imperative is a categorical imperative, which is unconditional and an end in itself.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Kings Park, New York

... from two or more races. 3.33% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 5,480 households out of which 36.4% have children under the age of 18 living ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 20.3 ms