Enlightenment · Europe · Culture

1788

Kant's Critique of Practical Reason

1788

Konigsberg's punctual bachelor followed his first Critique with a second, this one on morals. His conclusion: the moral law within him, like the starry heavens above, could command absolutely. The categorical imperative had a formula. Ethics, once the property of priests and traditions, would now also belong to professors. Kant's moral philosophy remains the foundation on which most secular ethical theory in the Western world still rests.