There is no bent of heart or turn of thought which any individual holds by virtue of an unalterable nature or will. The individual person must always be treated as an end, never as a means. Rational human beings should be treated as an end in themselves, and not as a means to something else because the fact of the matter is that we are human and have value in ourselves. In our own hearts, we mould the whole World’s hereafters; and in our own hearts, we fashion our own gods. If a person is an end-in-themselves, it means their inherent value does not depend on anything else—it does not depend on whether they person is enjoying their life, or making other people’s lives better. Fortune will help. We exist, so we have value. We should treat people how we want to be treated, and we should not treat ourselves as if we do not have any value; instead we should respect our inherent worth. The privilege of free action belongs to no mortal.  This is an argument against euthanasia, suicide, and other behaviors that damage ourselves. Amidst one’s most swift and easy pace the rider must guard oneself against a fall, and it is when prosperity is at the highest that our prudence should be awake and vigilant to prevent misfortune.    #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

Those which are the forces of the outer World are as shadows to the power we have created within us. The recognition of the individual person as an absolute principle has always been, and always will be alien to the proletariat (the common people). In objective social creativity, the very notion of the individual and one’s interest will be extinguished. The intimacy of lovers offers only a faint hint of that fusion of all human souls which will be the inevitable result of Fate. Think, what right have you to be scornful, whose virtue is a deficiency of temptation, whose success may be a chance, whose rank may be an ancestor’s accident, whose prosperity is very like a satire? On crimes and punishments, it is not right to use torture to obtain confessions, secret accusations, and the arbitrary discretionary power of judges, the inconsistency and inequality of sentencing, the influence of power and status in obtaining leniency, the lack of distinction in treatment of the accused and the convicted, and the use of capital punishment for serious and even minor offenses. Does not the Devil live forever; whoever heard that the Devil was dead? Did you ever see any parson wearing mourning for the Devil? #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

It contributes greatly towards an individual’s moral and intellectual health, to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike themselves, who care little for one’s pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities one must go out of oneself to appreciate. It would be taking up the pen of eternity were I to attempt to describe the boundless difference that we discovered between the manners and sentiments of those people and ourselves. Each person should willingly sacrifice to the political community only so much of one’s liberty as suffices to induce others to defend it. Laws are only the necessary conditions of this contract, and punishments under the law should have no other purpose than to defend the sum of these sacrifices shares of liberty against private usurpations by individuals. Punishments for any other reason are unnecessary and unjust. The law should be clear in defining crimes and judges should not interpret the law, but simply ascertain whether a person has or has not violated the law. Punishment should be adjusted in severity to the seriousness of the crime, therefore, varies according to the degree to which the transgressor’s act endangers existence. Treason and other acts against the state are most harmful, followed by injuries to the security of persons and property and finally acts which are disruptive of public harmony and peace, such as rioting or inciting to disorder.  #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

The intuitions of sense say nothing about their own objectivity or source. Not until they are subjected to the categories of the understanding do they become objective, for only then can we invoke the notion of external objects and speak of intuitions as given to our sense by such objects. To insure the continuance of society, punishment should aim at deterrence, that is, at preventing offenders from doing additional harm and others from committing crimes. To be effective as a deterrent to crime, punishment should be swift and certain; it is the certainty rather than the severity of punishment that deters. Life imprisonment is sufficient to deter; the death penalty is not necessary, nor is it legitimate, for individuals did not under the social contract relinquish the right to their lives. Corporal punishment is bad, and torture as part of a criminal investigation makes the suffering of pain rather than the evidence the test of truth. Crimes against property should be punished by fines, or when fines cannot be paid, by imprisonment. In order for punishment not to be, in every instance, an act of violence of one or of many against a private citizen, it must essentially public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, dictated by the laws. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

God is a symbol created by humans, a symbol of human ethical conscience. Piety consists simply in obedience to the commands of conscience. A truly scientific enterprise seeks prediction and control. Only objective methods will enable achievement of these goals. Objectivity in turn requires that different scientist be able to observe the same objects and events. States of consciousness being private, observation of behavior alone is able to provide the necessary data for a scientific psychology. Some scientist believe that humans are accidents of properties and substances, and the realm of Being is only a realm of properties. We have to divine our existence into two realms. We perceive a different World, with different object, through or mind then we do through the sense. It is the material World, perceived through the sense, that is changing. It is the realm of forms, perceived through the mind, that is permanent and immutable. It is this World that is more real; the World of change is merely an imperfect image of this World. Those who have the charge of youth should watch the first attempts of dawning reason, and fix, in their youthful hearts, such sentiments of truth and honor as might defy the hand of time to efface. If a person be of a mischievous, wicked inclination, no school will ever make him or her good. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5