Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun In the ethical system of Immanuel Kant, an unconditional moral law that applies to all rational beings and is independent of any personal motive or desire.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun ethics A
fundamental ethical principle intended as a guide for determining whether anycontemplated action ismorally right , developed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the moral principle that behavior should be determined by duty
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word categorical imperative.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Telofy commented on the word categorical imperative
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.”
—Immanuel Kant
(I hope I’m not misquoting, but I like the version without the “should” so much.)
March 12, 2010