K A 
direft violation of the duty of man to himfelf, and alio to¬ 
wards God, who hath entrulled us in this world with a poft 
which by this aft we quit without being called from it. 
There mult always be Itronger motives for man to preferve 
his life than to rob himfelf of it, fince he is confcious that, 
as a moral being, he has the power to overcome all his ani¬ 
mal inclinations, and even inftinfts. To annul the fub- 
jeft of morality in his own perfon (homo noumenon), is to 
extirpate it from the world ; but morality is an end in it¬ 
felf, which is at the fame time duty; that is, it is entruft- 
ed to man (homo phenomenon) for prel'ervation. 
Secondly, of Onanijm ; b. As the love of life is deflined 
for the preservation of the perfon, fo is the love of lex for 
the prefervation of the Jpccies. The unnatural ufe of lex is 
a violation of the duty of man to himfelf in the higheft de¬ 
gree, and offends againft morality ; lince, in being guilty 
of it, Man (homo phenomenon ) throws away the humanity 
in his perfon (homo noumenon), by uiing himfelf as a bare 
mean to the gratification of his animal mltinft. This vice 
is even more to be abhorred than fuicide ; for that only 
aims at the dellruftion of the individual, but this at the 
deltruction of the whole fpecies. The Man who is guilty 
of this vice deprives himfelf of all reverence for himfelf; 
.and thus, by giving himfelf up entirely to animal incli¬ 
nations, renders himfelf a mere thing, and becomes a dif- 
gujling objeft, fince he has thrown away his own perfon- 
ality, and has thus afted contrary to the Duty of Man to 
himfelf. Indeed, the immorality is here fo Itriking, that 
we cannot even bear to diltinguifh this horrible vice by its 
name. 
Thirdly, of SefobJlupefaBion ; c. The brutal excefs in 
the ufe of nouriftimenf, Drunkennefs and Gluttony, is the 
abufe of the means of animal enjoyment, and is contrary to 
the end of nature. This is therefore a violation of the 
Duty of Man to himfelf. In the ftate of inebriety, a man 
can be treated only as a beaft, and not as a man; for he 
is in fuch a condition, for a certain time, as to be entirely 
difabled from thofe aftions which his nature demands of 
him, and which require the ufe of his intelleftual powers, 
that are during this Time either clogged or exhaulted. It 
is l'elf-evident, that for man to put himfelf in fuch a ftate 
is a direft violation of his duty to himfelf. 
From the fecond principle arife The Duties of Man 
towards himself as a Moral Being ; to which are 
oppofed the Vices of Lying, Avarice, and Fall'e Humility, 
(cringing.) 
Firlt, of Lying. The greateft violation of the duty of 
Man towards himfelf, contemplated as a Moral Being, is 
the breach of Truth, a Crime of Man againft his own per¬ 
fon, and a bafenefs which mult render him contemptible 
in his own eyes. Lying may be either external or inter¬ 
nal. By the former, he renders himfelf an objeft of con¬ 
tempt in the eyes of others ; but by the latter, which is 
ftill worfe, in liis own. He thus violates the dignity of 
.humanity in his own perfon, and annihilates his human 
dignity. For a Man who does not himfelf believe what 
he fays to another, (were it even a merely ideal perfon,) 
is of lefs value than if he were a mere thing. He afts in di¬ 
reft oppofition to the conformity to end of the nature of 
his moral faculty. Man, a Moral being, (homo noumenon,) 
cannot ufe himfelf (homo phenomenon), a pliylical being, as a 
bare mean, but is bound by praftical reafon to ule him¬ 
felf as an end in itfelf. He violates the Duty of veracity, 
when he, for inftance’, pretends a belief in a future Judge of 
the world, and aElually finds no fuch belief in himfelf-, per- 
fuading himfelf that this belief can do no harm, but that 
it may rather be of ufe to acknowledge, to a fuppofed 
N X. 625 
Know'erof Hearts, that there is fuch a Being, with a view 
at all events to obtain his favour by playing the hypocrite. 
Secondly, of Avarice. It is erroneous,to ftate that Vir¬ 
tue confifts in the medium between two Vices. Virtue 
and Vice do not differ from each other in Degrees, but in 
Principle. Virtue is the principle of afting conformably 
to Duty, and Vice the principle of afting contrary to Duty. 
Therefore, Avarice, conlidered either as an inordinate 
thirft of wealth for the purpofe of wafte, or as fordidnefs, 
w hich implies a painfulnefs in parting with it, is equally 
rejeftable, and violates the Duty of man towards himfelf, 
by a flavifh fubjeftion to the goods of fortune; wdiereas 
he ought to be luperior to them, fince his praftical reafon 
commands him to be independent of every thing except 
the Moral Law. 
Thirdly, of Falfe Humility. Man, contemplated as a 
perfon (homo noumenon), that is, as the Subjeft of Morally- 
praftical Reafon, is above all price: for he is not to be 
efteemed as a bare mean to the end of others, nay, nopeven 
to his own, but as an end in itfelf; that is, he poffdfes a 
Dignity, an abfolute intrinfic value, whereby lie extorts 
reverence from himfelf, and from all other rational beings, 
and can confider himfelf upon an equality with every one 
of his fpecies. As he mull, however, confider himfelf not 
only as a perfon, but as a Man, that is, as a perfon who 
has duties which his own reafon impofes upon him; fo 
his inferiority as an Animal cannot detraft from the con- 
feioufnefs of his dignity as a Rational Being, and of the 
fublimity of his moral predifpofitions, by which he is uni- 
verfally legiflative in a poffible Kingdom of Ends. Thus, 
felfcjlimation is a Duty of Man to himfelf. But the com- 
parifon of all his virtuous efforts in the dilcharge of his 
duty, with the facrednels of the Moral Law itlelf, pro¬ 
duces a feeling of humility. But a humiliation in compari- 
fon with other men, or in general with any finite being, 
were it even a feraph, is no duly at all, but mere falfe hu¬ 
mility. The debaiement of our own moral value as a. 
means to acquire the favour of another, (whofoever he 
may be,) is falfe humility, and is a degradation of our per- 
fonality, which is directly contrary to the Duty of Man 
towards himfelf. 
Thefe Duti«s, and the Vices oppofed to them, regard 
that end of Man which is at the fame time his duty, 
namely, his own perfeBion. But there is ftill another end 
of man, which is alfo commanded by praftical Reafon ; 
that is, the Happiness of others. The Duties which 
promote this end may be divided into, 
Firft, The Duty of Love towards other men, which compre¬ 
hends, under Philanthropy, the Duties of Beneficence, 
of Gratitude, and of Aftive Sympathy ; in oppofition to 
the vices of Misanthropy, which compofe the detefta- 
ble family of Envy, Ingratitude, and Joy at another’* 
misfortune. 
Secondly, The Duty of Reverence towards other men. 
Every man has a juft claim to reverence from his fellow 
men ; and he is, on his part, bound to have reverence for 
them. The vices which violate the Duty of reverence 
for other men are Loftinefs, Detraction, and Derifion. 
All thefe fubjefts. are treated at large in the “Meta¬ 
physics of Morals and each of them is furnilhed 
with its proper argument, as well to eftablilh its Truth as 
the completenefs of the divifion. In the “Critic of 
Practical Reason” may be feen all the arguments at 
length which are the proofs of what is here briefly Hated, 
with a view to give an Idea of a Syftem of Morals 
founded entirely upon Pure Practical Reason. 
7 U The 
VOL. XI. No. 7S2. 
