merely uncertain and merely possible purpose, but as necessary to a purpose which we
can a prioriand with assurance assume for everyone because it belongs to his essence.
Skill in the choice of means to one’s own highest well-being can be called prudence* in
the narrowest sense. Thus the imperative which refers to the choice of means to one’s
own happiness (i.e., the precept of prudence) is still only hypothetical, and the action is
not commanded absolutely but commanded only as a means to another end in view.
FOUNDATIONS OF THEMETAPHYSICS OFMORALS 867
416*The word “prudence” may be taken in two senses, and it may bear the names of prudence with reference
to things of the world and private prudence. The former sense means the skill of a man in having an influence on
others so as to use them for his own purposes. The latter is the ability to unite all these purposes to his own lasting
advantage. The worth of the first is finally reduced to the latter, and of one who is prudent in the former sense but
not in the latter we might better say that he is clever and cunning yet, on the whole, imprudent.
Immanuel Kant and Luncheon Guests,1893, by E. Doestling. While Kant led a simple, routine-filled life, he was known
as a delightful conversationalist and host who had many friends and admirers. (© ullstein bild/Getty)