ABSTRACT
The primary idea of Immanuel Kant's Grundlegung is that he is free when he acts without any irrational motive, solely out of respect for reason. The content of the categorical imperative as the sole alternative to hypothetical imperatives is, according to Kant, as clear as can be. He himself does not give the following example, but it might have helped more to illuminate this point than the examples he did give. Kant assumes that universality is the mark of rationality, while the particular and subjective are irrational. The only major difference between Kant and the early Martin Luther may seem to be that Kant does not speak of a will of one's own but of the inclinations, and not of an overwill but of reason. But Kant considered fear of God incompatible with autonomy and actually a prime example of "heteronomy," that is, obedience to a law given by someone else.
