There is much beauty in this saying by Erich Kästner!
Kant
Immanuel Kant, with his Categorical Imperative (“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”), prioritizes duty in the question of good action.
Action must be taken in a specific way: in a way that passes the universality test.
Kästner
Erich Kästner, on the other hand, opposed passive moralism.
It is important to do good. Directly and personally.
Present
Here and now, at a time when the entire globe seems to be slipping away from us – amidst all the discord between nations, climate change, and resource waste – it seems to me that we need both.
Kästner on a small scale, at the level of direct human interaction, where good deeds are essential to make the world a better place.
And Kant on a large, global scale. There, where the principle of universality imposes a duty of moral action upon us.
Honestly, I don’t know what the two gentlemen would say about my assessment…
This world would be more beautiful between two living beings if we did more good instead of focusing on ourselves. And I suspect that things like war, hardship, and pollution could not exist if, on a large scale, we followed the Categorical Imperative and not monetary gain.
I suspect it would already be better if we just tried.
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