unthinkable expression, a contradictio in adjecto.

To be an end means to be an object of volition. Every end can only exist in relation to a will, whose end, i.e., (as above stated), whose direct motive it is. Only thus can the idea, “end” have any sense, which is lost as soon as such connection is broken. But this relation, which is essential to the thing, necessarily excludes every “in itself.” “End in oneself” is exactly like saying: “Friend in oneself; — enemy in oneself; — uncle in oneself; — north or east in itself; — above or below in itself;” and so on. At bottom the “end in itself” is in the same case as the “absolute ought”; the same thought — the theological — secretly, indeed, unconsciously lies at the root of each as its condition.