--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If the ability to tell right from wrong…" description: "\"If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to \"demand\" its exercise..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e3/hannah-arendt-610_ability_if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong_1170085.jpg" --- # If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to… ![“If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to "demand" its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be. Kant in this respect almost alone among the…” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e3/hannah-arendt-610_ability_if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong_1170085.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e3/hannah-arendt-610_ability_if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong_1170085.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e3/hannah-arendt-610_ability_if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong_1170085.jpg) > “If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to "demand" its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be. Kant in this respect almost alone among the philosophers was much bothered by the common opinion that philosophy is only for the few, precisely because of its moral implications.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Moral judgment requires rational thought; everyone, regardless of education, must be expected to exercise ethical reasoning. **In simple terms:** Ethics need thinking for all. Key Takeaway Encourage critical moral reflection. Themes ethics reason universality Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - education - law - public policy - personal decisions Key Concepts moral philosophy critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How can societies foster universal moral reasoning? - What barriers hinder ethical thinking? A Different Perspective Assumes all can reason equally well. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ability/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Erudite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/erudite/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Opinion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinion/) [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Right From Wrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-from-wrong/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [If the ability to tell right from wrong should have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/if-the-ability-to-tell-right-from-wrong-should-have-anything-to-do/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [I have long been settled in my own opinion that neither Philosophy, nor Religion, nor Morality, nor Wisdom, nor Interest, will ever govern nations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/i-have-long-been-settled-in-my-own-opinion-that-neither-philosophy/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [“We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. 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Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/this-inability-to-think-created-the-possibility-for-many-ordinary-men/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Erudite and entertaining, Max Anderson is the perfect tour guide to the world of art. The Quality Instinct is both educational and enlightening from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-silva/erudite-and-entertaining-max-anderson-is-the-perfect-tour-guide-to/) [Daniel Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-silva/) > [If you are an ardent reader, seek not brilliant and erudite texts; otherwise the demon of haughtiness will strike your heart. But like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ephrem-the-syrian/if-you-are-an-ardent-reader-seek-not-brilliant-and-erudite-texts/) [Ephrem the Syrian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ephrem-the-syrian/) > [But now I’m wondering if I need it anymore, if we ever really need these words, “Dauntless,” “Erudite,” “Divergent,” “Allegiant,” or if we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/but-now-i-m-wondering-if-i-need-it-anymore-if-we-ever-really-need/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [“... 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Does not that simple thought, rather than erudite reasoning, offer solace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paramahansa-yogananda/god-is-love-his-plan-for-creation-can-only-be-rooted-in-love-does-not/) [Paramahansa Yogananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paramahansa-yogananda/) > [And he’s right to say that every faction loses something when it gains a virtue: the Dauntless, brave but cruel; the Erudite, intelligent but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/and-he-s-right-to-say-that-every-faction-loses-something-when-it/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Pessimistic visions about almost anything always strike the public as more erudite than optimistic ones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-a-schumpeter/pessimistic-visions-about-almost-anything-always-strike-the-public-as/) [Joseph A. Schumpeter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-a-schumpeter/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Ability quotes > [I don't think there's a direct correlation between my sexuality and my skiing ability. 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