than _man under moral laws_: since otherwise the purposes of nature in
the physical order could not be known _a priori_, especially as it can
in no way be seen that nature could not exist without such purposes.
_Remark_
Suppose the case of a man at the moment when his mind is disposed to a
moral sensation. If surrounded by the beauties of nature, he is in a
state of restful, serene enjoyment of his being, he feels a want, viz.
to be grateful for this to some being or other. Or if another time he
finds himself in the same state of mind when pressed by duties that he
can and will only adequately discharge by a voluntary sacrifice, he
again feels in himself a want, viz. to have thus executed a command
and obeyed a Supreme Lord. Or, again; if he has in some heedless way
transgressed his duty, but without becoming answerable to men, his
severe self-reproach will speak to him with the voice of a judge to
whom he has to give account. In a word, he needs a moral Intelligence,
in order to have a Being for the purpose of his existence, which may
be, conformably to this purpose, the cause of himself and of the
world. It is vain to assign motives behind these feelings, for they
are immediately connected with the purest moral sentiment, because
_gratitude_, _obedience_, and _humiliation_ (submission to deserved
chastisement) are mental dispositions that make for duty; and the mind
which is inclined towards a widening of its moral sentiment here only
voluntarily conceives an object that is not in the world in order where
possible to render its duty before such an one. It is therefore at
least possible and grounded too in our moral disposition to represent
a pure moral need of the existence of a Being, by which our morality
gains strength or even (at least according to our representation) more
scope, viz. a new object for its exercise. That is, [there is a need]
to assume a morally-legislating Being outside the world, without any
reference to theoretical proofs, still less to self-interest, from pure
moral grounds free from all foreign influence (and consequently only
subjective), on the mere recommendation of a pure practical Reason
legislating by itself alone. And although such a mental disposition
might seldom occur or might not last long, but be transient and without
permanent effect, or might even pass away without any meditation on the
object represented in such shadowy outline, or without care to bring
it under clear concepts--there is yet here unmistakably the ground why
our moral capacity, as a subjective principle, should not be contented
in its contemplation of the world with its purposiveness by means of
natural causes, but should ascribe to it a supreme Cause governing
nature according to moral principles.--In addition, we feel ourselves
constrained by the moral law to strive for a universal highest purpose
which yet we, in common with the rest of nature, are incapable of
attaining; and it is only so far as we strive for it that we can judge
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