Physicians think they do a lot for a patient when they give his disease a name.
Immanuel KantRead
What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote questions the fundamental aspects of knowledge, duty, and hope in human existence.
Immanuel Kant's quote reflects the essential inquiries that guide human life and ethics. By asking 'What can I know?', he prompts us to consider the limits of our understanding and knowledge. 'What ought I to do?' challenges us to think about our moral obligations and responsibilities, while 'What may I hope?' invites us to reflect on our aspirations and the possibilities for the future. Together, these questions encapsulate the profound philosophical exploration of knowledge, morality, and hope that defines the human experience.
Themes
KnowledgeDutyHopeMoralityEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of existence.
More from Immanuel Kant
All quotes βThe inscrutable wisdom through which we exist is not less worthy of veneration in respect to what it denies us than in respect to what it has granted.
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One cannot avoid a certain feeling of disgust, when one observes the actions of man displayed on the great stage of the world. Wisdom is manifested by individuals here and there; but the web of human history as a whole appears to be woven from folly and childish vanity, often, too, from puerile wickedness and love of destruction: with the result that at the end one is puzzled to know what idea to form of our species which prides itself so much on its advantages.
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I shall never forget my mother, for it was she who planted and nurtured the first seeds of good within me. She opened my heart to the lasting impressions of nature; she awakened my understanding and extended my horizon and her percepts exerted an everlasting influence upon the course of my life.
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. . . as to moral feeling, this supposed special sense, the appeal to it is indeed superficial when those who cannot think believe that feeling will help them out, even in what concerns general laws: and besides, feelings which naturally differ infinitely in degree cannot furnish a uniform standard of good and evil, nor has any one a right to form judgments for others by his own feelings. . . .
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Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
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