hypothetical imperative

noun

1. (esp in the moral philosophy of Kant) any conditional rule of action, concerned with means and ends rather than with duty for its own sake Compare categorical imperative

Example Sentences

All prudential or technical rules are hypothetical imperatives, the moral law is a categorical imperative.

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Because of that I call all the other commandments made to us hypothetical imperatives and that of conscience, alone, the categorical or absolute imperative.

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The former would be hypothetical imperatives, and contain mere precepts of skill; the latter, on the contrary, would be categorical, and would alone be practical laws.

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This relation, whether it rests on inclination or on conceptions of reason, only admits of hypothetical imperatives: "I ought to do something because I wish for something else."

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When I conceive a hypothetical imperative in general I do not know beforehand what it will contain until I am given the condition.

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