hypothetical imperative
hypothetical imperative noun: a formula that tells one how to act in order to achieve a specific goal, without reflecting on the value of the goal itself. Such an imperative is conditional, i.e., it would only motivate one who already shares the end goal in question.
Noun
hypothetical imperative (plural hypothetical imperatives)
- A formula that tells one how to act in order to achieve a specific goal, without reflecting on the value of the goal itself. Such an imperative is conditional, i.e., it would only motivate one who already shares the end goal in question.
Forms of hypothetical imperative
| plural | hypothetical imperatives |
|---|
Origin of hypothetical imperative
From German hypothetischer Imperativ, used by Immanuel Kant.
Questions about hypothetical imperative
- What does hypothetical imperative mean?
- Hypothetical imperative means a formula that tells one how to act in order to achieve a specific goal, without reflecting on the value of the goal itself. Such an imperative is conditional, i.e., it would only motivate one who already shares the end goal in question.
- What part of speech is hypothetical imperative?
- Hypothetical imperative is a noun.
- What is the plural of hypothetical imperative?
- The plural of hypothetical imperative is hypothetical imperatives.
Words near hypothetical imperative in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hypothetical imperative (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “hypothetical imperative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hypothetical_imperative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.