How to understand "there are two things, always in my heart;" Respect and fear, the day is very provincial: the outside is like a bright star, and the inside is still moral. "

There are only two things in the world that deserve our deep admiration. One is the bright starry sky above us, and the other is the lofty moral law in our hearts.

"There are always two, Yu Wei. I am above, the bright starry sky; Moral law is in my heart. " This passage is a famous Kant sentence translated by Li Zehou. The translation is concise and catchy, but it may still lead some readers to misunderstand and inappropriately question Kant's original intention.

Let's look at how Deng Xiaomang, Han Shuifa and Mou Zongsan translated Kant's passage:

There are two things, the more people keep thinking, the more they fill their hearts with constantly updated and increasing surprises and awe: the starry sky above me and the moral law in my heart. (Translated by Deng Xiaomang)

There are two things, the more and longer we think about them, the more we can fill our hearts with new and growing admiration and awe: the starry sky above me and the moral law that lives in my heart. (Translated by Han Shuifa)

There are two things, the more we constantly reflect, the more we read from me: they enrich our hearts with forever new and deepening admiration and fear, and these two things are the celestial bodies above us and the moral laws within us. (translated by Mou Zongsan)

We can clearly understand that the word "I" in Li Zehou's translation is not the real meaning of an individual, but the general name of a group. This "I" can be replaced by "people" or "us".

Kant's in-depth study of morality is totality, that is, the morality of people who exist as classes, not Kant himself or any individual who exists as an individual. Kant's words and his whole moral philosophy are intended to arouse people's awe of moral laws and respect for their higher mission, and make human beings have the dignity and dignity that intelligent life should have through moral efforts.

"The moral law is in my heart." The "I" here refers to the average human being. Everyone has moral consciousness except those who are immature and insane.

Whether elite or common people, elite or scum, everyone has moral concepts, moral preferences and moral impulses. In this world, there are no people who are completely insensitive to moral laws. An immoral person doesn't want others to treat him in an immoral way.

However, morality, as a value system formed by human beings in social life, has been changing. There is no eternal morality in this world, and morality is abandoned and advocated according to the needs of the present.

It is impossible to have a universal moral concept. No morality can be traced back to the existence of human beings, and all morality has nationality, race and inferiority either implicitly or explicitly. If you tell cannibals that cannibalism is immoral, they will definitely think you are immoral, and then chop you up and make a barbecue according to their morality.