{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 176/1917-07-03/p017","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"Yet another principle of ethics is Kant's so-called categorical imperative, according to which an action is good if it is based on principles that could be the basis for a law applying to all.[^4] Nothing could be more contrary to morality! Even the example Kant himself puts forward clearly shows his categorical imperative to be void of moral value. He says: Suppose you were given something for safekeeping, but instead you appropriated it. Such an action, says Kant, cannot be a basic principle for all to follow, for if everybody simply took possession of things entrusted to them, an orderly human society would be an impossibility. It is not difficult to see that in such a case, whether the action is good or bad cannot be judged on whether things entrusted to one are returned or not. Quite different issues come into question.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Lecture V","site_heading":"Franz Brentano's Struggle: Truth, Goodness, and Spiritual Science","site_heading_note":"A heading the site wrote for this unit from a summary of it; not in the edition, and not the words of Rudolf Steiner or of the translator. Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote it.","date":"1917-07-03","location":null,"word_count":143,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/176/1917-07-03/p017","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"established","translator":"Rita Stebbing","identified_edition":"AP1987","book_title":"Aspects of Human Evolution","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA176/English/AP1987/19170703p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/176/1917-07-03/p017"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/176/1917-07-03/p017","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1917-07-03","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 176/1917-07-03/p015","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/176/1917-07-03/p015"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false,"length_check":{"de_words":155,"en_words":143,"ratio":0.92,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. The German original passage(s) above are the edition-invariant anchor — fetch them (lang='de') to verify wording before quoting across editions."},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 176/1917-07-03/p015","passage_number":15,"text":"Eine andere Begründung der Ethik ist die Kantische durch den sogenannten kategorischen Imperativ. Er soll darin bestehen, daß wir eine Handlung für gut finden, wenn wir uns sagen können, daß diese Handlung eine solche der allgemeinen menschlichen Gesetzgebung werden könnte. Dieser kategorische Imperativ führt auf Schritt und Tritt zu Unmöglichkeiten, eigentlich zu Leerheiten, und es ist sehr leicht einzusehen, daß selbst das Beispiel, das Kant selbst gebraucht, nicht eigentlich einen ethischen Inhalt abgibt. Zum Beispiel sagt Kant: Vertraut dir jemand irgend etwas an, was du aufbewahren sollst, und du eignest es dir an, so kann das nicht allgemeine Gesetzgebung werden. Denn wenn jeder sich das aneignen wollte, was ihm zur Aufbewahrung gegeben wird, so würde das Zusammenleben der Menschen unmöglich sein. — Nun, Sie sehen leicht ein, daß darauf nicht das Gute beruhen kann, im Behalten oder Zurückgeben irgendeines anvertrauten Gutes, das einem nicht gehört, sondern daß da andere Quellen, andere Gründe maßgebend sein müssen.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":155,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/176/1917-07-03/p015"}],"english":["GA 176/1917-07-03/p017"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":155,"en_words":143,"ratio":0.92,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"proposed","verified":false},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":0.97,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8951,"original_word_count":9212,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"recorded","translator":"Rita Stebbing","identified_edition":"AP1987","book_title":"Aspects of Human Evolution","publisher":"Anthroposophic Press","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA176/English/AP1987/19170703p01.html","evidence":"lecture_page_line","publisher_note":"The publisher is inferred from the edition code in this lecture's source URL, not stated by the source page. The translator IS verified for this lecture: its own source names the translator (evidence: the lecture's page, rsarchive's lecture list, or the cover of the book it was published in), and that page's text was matched against this unit (see match_score and source_url). Cite the translator with confidence; attribute the publisher only as probable."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 176/1917-07-03/p015"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}}