It is commonly thought that on Kant’s view of action, ‘everyone always acts on maxims’. Call this the ‘descriptive reading’. This reading faces two important problems. First, the idea that people always act on maxims offends against common sense: it clashes with our ordinary ideas about human agency. Second, there are various passages in which Kant says that it is ‘rare’ and ‘admirable’ to firmly adhere to a set of basic principles that we adopt for ourselves. This article offers an alternative: the ‘normative reading’. On this reading, it is a normative ideal to adopt and act on maxims: it is one of the things we would do if our reason were fully in control of our decision-making.

中文翻译：

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我们总是按照格言行事吗？

人们普遍认为，根据康德的行动观，“每个人总是按照格言行事”。将此称为“描述性阅读”。这种阅读面临两个重要问题。首先，人们总是按照准则行事的想法违反了常识：它与我们关于人类能动性的普通想法相冲突。其次，康德在许多段落中说，坚定地坚持一套我们为自己采用的基本原则是“罕见的”和“令人钦佩的”。本文提供了另一种选择：“规范阅读”。在这个阅读中，采用并按照格言行动是一种规范的理想：如果我们的理性完全控制我们的决策，这是我们会做的事情之一。