219 works selected for the 40 candidate questions. Selections approved by Ben Breen, 29 September 2026. Arguments are unverified. Quotations were chosen by machine and are unchecked.
7 of 219 works
1778GoetheGoethe,The Triumph of SensibilityGermanFictionFull text
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit
German · Fiction
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q40Can an artificial companion satisfy the need for companionship if it has no feelings of its own?
No. Satire in which Prince Oronaro prefers a doll stuffed with sentimental novels to the real queen; the play mocks a love that needs nothing back.
- Q40Can an artificial companion satisfy the need for companionship if it has no feelings of its own?
1784KantKant,An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?GermanEssayFull text
Immanuel Kant
Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?
German · Essay
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q21Can repeated obedience train a person to obey without judgment?
Yes. Statutes and formulas, the mechanical instruments of reason, are the shackles of permanent immaturity; he criticizes 'do not argue, obey' while allowing obedience in office.
- Q36Should public officials carry out rules without exercising personal moral judgment?
Yes. In the 'private' use of reason within an office, an officer, tax official or clergyman must obey and not argue; he may criticize freely only as a scholar addressing the public.
- Q21Can repeated obedience train a person to obey without judgment?
1789BlumenbachBlumenbach,An Essay on GenerationGermanTreatiseFull text
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
Über den Bildungstrieb
German · Treatise
Full text · Period translation
Open source →- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
No. Blumenbach denies pre-existing organized germs and defines formative nisus as a distinctive force of generation, growth, nutrition and reproduction.
- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
1790KantKant,Critique of JudgementGermanTreatiseFull text
Immanuel Kant
Kritik der Urteilskraft
German · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q08Does an organism's ability to repair itself distinguish it fundamentally from a machine?
This answer is hidden while the authors build this question’s position key.
- Q09Can the development of an organism from an egg be explained as the operation of a machine?
No. Holds that an organized being is not a mere machine, because a machine has only motive power while an organism has a formative power that it passes to matter and that reproduces and repairs its own parts.
- Q08Does an organism's ability to repair itself distinguish it fundamentally from a machine?
1795SchillerSchiller,On the Aesthetic Education of Man, in a Series of LettersGermanLetterFull text
Friedrich Schiller
Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen
German · Letter
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q35Does treating the state as an artificial machine give its members grounds to redesign it?
Yes. The state may be rebuilt on reason, but unlike a clock it cannot be stopped for repair; the living clockwork of the state must be repaired while it runs.
- Q35Does treating the state as an artificial machine give its members grounds to redesign it?
1795SchillerSchiller,On Simple and Sentimental PoetryGermanLetterFull text
Friedrich Schiller
Über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung
German · Letter
Full text · No English translation
Open source →1798KantKant,Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of ViewGermanTreatiseFull text
Immanuel Kant
Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht
German · Treatise
Full text · No English translation
Open source →- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?
No. Habit is a physical compulsion to go on as before; it takes the moral worth from good acts because it impairs freedom of mind, so as a rule all habit is objectionable.
- Q20Does making an action habitual increase a person's freedom to act?