Immanuel Kant was an influential figure in German and European philosophy. He and his work inspired many nineteenth-century thinkers from Hegel to Nietzsche. One of his most interesting, multifaceted, and unique concepts is the categorical imperative. Kant gave two different formulations of this idea to explain it to the audience. The first version is called the Formula of the Universal Law of Nature. The second one is titled the Humanity Formula or the Formula of the End in Itself. Both of these interpretations are crucial to understanding Kantian ethics and morality. It can be said that the first formulation of the categorical imperative resonates with the concept of the superior man developed by Confucius.
According to Johnson and Cureton, Kant meant by the first interpretation of the categorical imperative that one is to “act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.” Both philosophers associate similar concepts of principles and virtues and describe their potential to become a universal law. Kant and Confucius also link desires and favors that limit principles’ property of universality.