第 16 节
作者:
莫再讲 更新:2021-02-20 15:52 字数:9322
of reason directed to objects of our possible volition generally; as
in the principle of perfection; in either case the will never
determines itself immediately by the conception of the action; but
only by the influence which the foreseen effect of the action has on
the will; I ought to do something; on this account; because I wish for
something else; and here there must be yet another law assumed in me
as its subject; by which I necessarily will this other thing; and this
law again requires an imperative to restrict this maxim。 For the
influence which the conception of an object within the reach of our
faculties can exercise on the will of the subject; in consequence of
its natural properties; depends on the nature of the subject; either
the sensibility (inclination and taste); or the understanding and
reason; the employment of which is by the peculiar constitution of
their nature attended with satisfaction。 It follows that the law would
be; properly speaking; given by nature; and; as such; it must be known
and proved by experience and would consequently be contingent and
therefore incapable of being an apodeictic practical rule; such as the
moral rule must be。 Not only so; but it is inevitably only heteronomy;
the will does not give itself the law; but is given by a foreign
impulse by means of a particular natural constitution of the subject
adapted to receive it。 An absolutely good will; then; the principle of
which must be a categorical imperative; will be indeterminate as
regards all objects and will contain merely the form of volition
generally; and that as autonomy; that is to say; the capability of the
maxims of every good will to make themselves a universal law; is
itself the only law which the will of every rational being imposes
on itself; without needing to assume any spring or interest as a
foundation。
How such a synthetical practical a priori proposition is possible;
and why it is necessary; is a problem whose solution does not lie
within the bounds of the metaphysic of morals; and we have not here
affirmed its truth; much less professed to have a proof of it in our
power。 We simply showed by the development of the universally received
notion of morality that an autonomy of the will is inevitably
connected with it; or rather is its foundation。 Whoever then holds
morality to be anything real; and not a chimerical idea without any
truth; must likewise admit the principle of it that is here
assigned。 This section then; like the first; was merely analytical。
Now to prove that morality is no creation of the brain; which it
cannot be if the categorical imperative and with it the autonomy of
the will is true; and as an a priori principle absolutely necessary;
this supposes the possibility of a synthetic use of pure practical
reason; which however we cannot venture on without first giving a
critical examination of this faculty of reason。 In the concluding
section we shall give the principal outlines of this critical
examination as far as is sufficient for our purpose。
THIRD SECTION
TRANSITION FROM THE METAPHYSIC OF MORALS TO THE
CRITIQUE OF PURE PRACTICAL REASON
The Concept of Freedom is the Key that explains the Autonomy of
the Will
The will is a kind of causality belonging to living beings in so far
as they are rational; and freedom would be this property of such
causality that it can be efficient; independently of foreign causes
determining it; just as physical necessity is the property that the
causality of all irrational beings has of being determined to activity
by the influence of foreign causes。
The preceding definition of freedom is negative and therefore
unfruitful for the discovery of its essence; but it leads to a
positive conception which is so much the more full and fruitful。
Since the conception of causality involves that of laws; according
to which; by something that we call cause; something else; namely
the effect; must be produced; hence; although freedom is not a
property of the will depending on physical laws; yet it is not for
that reason lawless; on the contrary it must be a causality acting
according to immutable laws; but of a peculiar kind; otherwise a
free will would be an absurdity。 Physical necessity is a heteronomy of
the efficient causes; for every effect is possible only according to
this law; that something else determines the efficient cause to
exert its causality。 What else then can freedom of the will be but
autonomy; that is; the property of the will to be a law to itself? But
the proposition: 〃The will is in every action a law to itself;〃 only
expresses the principle: 〃To act on no other maxim than that which can
also have as an object itself as a universal law。〃 Now this is
precisely the formula of the categorical imperative and is the
principle of morality; so that a free will and a will subject to moral
laws are one and the same。
On the hypothesis; then; of freedom of the will; morality together
with its principle follows from it by mere analysis of the conception。
However; the latter is a synthetic proposition; viz。; an absolutely
good will is that whose maxim can always include itself regarded as
a universal law; for this property of its maxim can never be
discovered by analysing the conception of an absolutely good will。 Now
such synthetic propositions are only possible in this way: that the
two cognitions are connected together by their union with a third in
which they are both to be found。 The positive concept of freedom
furnishes this third cognition; which cannot; as with physical causes;
be the nature of the sensible world (in the concept of which we find
conjoined the concept of something in relation as cause to something
else as effect)。 We cannot now at once show what this third is to
which freedom points us and of which we have an idea a priori; nor can
we make intelligible how the concept of freedom is shown to be
legitimate from principles of pure practical reason and with it the
possibility of a categorical imperative; but some further
preparation is required。
Freedom must be presupposed as a Property of the Will
of all Rational Beings
It is not enough to predicate freedom of our own will; from Whatever
reason; if we have not sufficient grounds for predicating the same
of all rational beings。 For as morality serves as a law for us only
because we are rational beings; it must also hold for all rational
beings; and as it must be deduced simply from the property of freedom;
it must be shown that freedom also is a property of all rational
beings。 It is not enough; then; to prove it from certain supposed
experiences of human nature (which indeed is quite impossible; and
it can only be shown a priori); but we must show that it belongs to
the activity of all rational beings endowed with a will。 Now I say
every being that cannot act except under the idea of freedom is just
for that reason in a practical point of view really free; that is to
say; all laws which are inseparably connected with freedom have the
same force for him as if his will had been shown to be free in
itself by a proof theoretically conclusive。* Now I affirm that we must
attribute to every rational being which has a will that it has also
the idea of freedom and acts entirely under this idea。 For in such a
being we conceive a reason that is practical; that is; has causality
in reference to its objects。 Now we cannot possibly conceive a
reason consciously receiving a bias from any other quarter with
respect to its judgements; for then the subject would ascribe the
determination of its judgement not to its own reason; but to an
impulse。 It must regard itself as the author of its principles
independent of foreign influences。 Consequently as practical reason or
as the will of a rational being it must regard itself as free; that is
to say; the will of such a being cannot be a will of its own except
under the idea of freedom。 This idea must therefore in a practical
point of view be ascribed to every rational being。
*I adopt this method of assuming freedom merely as an idea which
rational beings suppose in their actions; in order to avoid the
necessity of proving it in its theoretical aspect also。 The former
is sufficient for my purpose; for even though the speculative proof
should not be made out; yet a being that cannot act except with the
idea of freedom is bound by the same laws that would oblige a being
who was actually free。 Thus we can escape here from the onus which
presses on the theory。
Of the Interest attaching to the Ideas of Morality
We have finally reduced the definite conception of morality to the
idea of freedom。 This latter; however; we could not prove to be
actually a property of ourselves or of human nature; only we saw
that it must be presupposed if we would conceive a being as ra