“ For, if freedom were determined according to laws, it would be no longer freedom, but merely nature. Nature, therefore, and transcendental freedom are distinguishable as conformity to law and lawlessness. ”
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (1791). copy citation
| Author | Immanuel Kant |
|---|---|
| Source | Critique of Pure Reason |
| Topic | conformity freedom |
| Date | 1791 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by J. M. D. Meiklejohn |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm |
Context
“Freedom—independence of the laws of nature—is certainly a deliverance from restraint, but it is also a relinquishing of the guidance of law and rule. For it cannot be alleged that, instead of the laws of nature, laws of freedom may be introduced into the causality of the course of nature. For, if freedom were determined according to laws, it would be no longer freedom, but merely nature. Nature, therefore, and transcendental freedom are distinguishable as conformity to law and lawlessness. The former imposes upon understanding the difficulty of seeking the origin of events ever higher and higher in the series of causes, inasmuch as causality is always conditioned thereby; while it compensates this labour by the guarantee of a unity complete and in conformity with law.”
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