This enlargement of the notion of duty beyond that of external
freedom and of its limitation by the merely formal condition of its
constant harmony; this, I say, in which, instead of constraint from
without, there is set up freedom within, the power of self-constraint,
and that not by the help of other inclinations, but by pure
practical reason (which scorns all such help), consists in this
fact, which raises it above juridical duty; that by it ends are
proposed from which jurisprudence altogether abstracts. In the case of
the moral imperative, and the supposition of freedom which it
necessarily involves, the law, the power (to fulfil it) and the
rational will that determines the maxim, constitute all the elements
that form the notion of juridical duty. But in the imperative, which
commands the duty of virtue, there is added, besides the notion of
self-constraint, that of an end; not one that we have, but that we
ought to have, which, therefore, pure practical reason has in
itself, whose highest, unconditional end (which, however, continues to
be duty) consists in this: that virtue is its own end and, by
deserving well of men, is also its own reward. Herein it shines so
brightly as an ideal to human perceptions, it seems to cast in the
shade even holiness itself, which is never tempted to
transgression.* This, however, is an illusion arising from the fact
that as we have no measure for the degree of strength, except the
greatness of the obstacles which might have been overcome (which in
our case are the inclinations), we are led to mistake the subjective
conditions of estimation of a magnitude for the objective conditions
of the magnitude itself. But when compared with human ends, all of
which have their obstacles to be overcome, it is true that the worth
of virtue itself, which is its own end, far outweighs the worth of all
the utility and all the empirical ends and advantages which it may
have as consequences.

  *So that one might very two well-known lines of Haller thus:

    With all his failings, man is still

    Better than angels void of will.

  We may, indeed, say that man is obliged to virtue (as a moral
strength). For although the power (facultas) to overcome all
imposing sensible impulses by virtue of his freedom can and must be
presupposed, yet this power regarded as strength (robur) is
something that must be acquired by the moral spring (the idea of the
law) being elevated by contemplation of the dignity of the pure law of
reason in us, and at the same time also by exercise.

  XI. According to the preceding Principles, the Scheme of Duties of

                  Virtue may be thus exhibited

       The Material Element of the Duty of Virtue

               1                              2

    Internal Duty of Virtue       External Virtue of Duty

        My Own End,                  The End of Others,

        which is also my             the promotion of

        Duty                         which is also my

                                     Duty

        (My own                      (The Happiness

        Perfection)                  of Others)

               3                              4

        The Law which is             The End which is

        also Spring                  also Spring

        On which the                 On which the

        Morality                     Legality

         of every free determination of will rests

    The Formal Element of the Duty of Virtue.

  XII. Preliminary Notions of the Susceptibility of the Mind for

                 Notions of Duty generally

  These are such moral qualities as, when a man does not possess them,
he is not bound to acquire them. They are: the moral feeling,
conscience, love of one's neighbour, and respect for ourselves
(self-esteem). There is no obligation to have these, since they are
subjective conditions of susceptibility for the notion of duty, not
objective conditions of morality. They are all sensitive and
antecedent, but natural capacities of mind (praedispositio) to be
affected by notions of duty; capacities which it cannot be regarded as
a duty to have, but which every man has, and by virtue of which he can
be brought under obligation. The consciousness of them is not of
empirical origin, but can only follow on that of a moral law, as an
effect of the same on the mind.

                    A. THE MORAL FEELING