And although the realization of this purpose may
always remain but a pious wish, yet we do certainly not deceive
ourselves in adopting the maxim of action that will guide us in
working incessantly for it; for it is a duty to do this. To suppose
that the moral law within us is itself deceptive, would be
sufficient to excite the horrible wish rather to be deprived of all
reason than to live under such deception, and even to see oneself,
according to such principles, degraded like the lower animals to the
level of the mechanical play of nature.
It may be said that the universal and lasting establishment of peace
constitutes not merely a part, but the whole final purpose and end
of the science of right as viewed within the limits of reason. The
state of peace is the only condition of the mine and thine that is
secured and guaranteed by laws in the relationship of men living in
numbers contiguous to each other, and who are thus combined in a
constitution whose rule is derived not from the mere experience of
those who have found it the best as a normal guide for others, but
which must be taken by the reason a priori from the ideal of a
juridical union of men under public laws generally. For all particular
examples or instances, being able only to furnish illustration but not
proof, are deceptive, and at all events require a metaphysic to
establish them by its necessary principles.
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