For all moral proofs, being philosophical, can only be drawn by
means of rational knowledge from concepts, not like mathematics,
through the construction of concepts. The latter science admits a
variety of proofs of one and the same theorem; because in intuition
a priori there may be several properties of an object, all of which
lead back to the very same principle. If, for instance, to prove the
duty of veracity, an argument is drawn first from the harm that a
lie causes to other men; another from the worthlessness of a liar
and the violation of his own self-respect, what is proved in the
former argument is a duty of benevolence, not of veracity, that is
to say, not the duty which required to be proved, but a different one.
Now, if, in giving a variety of proof for one and the same theorem, we
flatter ourselves that the multitude of reasons will compensate the
lack of weight in each taken separately, this is a very
unphilosophical resource, since it betrays trickery and dishonesty;
for several insufficient proofs placed beside one another do not
produce certainty, nor even probability. They should advance as reason
and consequence in a series, up to the sufficient reason, and it is
only in this way that they can have the force of proof. Yet the former
is the usual device of the rhetorician.
Secondly. The difference between virtue and vice cannot be sought in
the degree in which certain maxims are followed, but only in the
specific quality of the maxims (their relation to the law).
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