Within one tradition, our acts could be made a universal law. This is a very that the German philosopher immanual Kant Called the categorical imperative. (An imperative is a command or duty ; categorical means that it is without exception.) Our primary duty is, according to Kant, to act only in those ways in which the maxim of our acts could be made a universal law. This is a very abstract way of saying something that is fairly intuitive. The” maxim” of our acts can be thought of as the intention behind our acts. The maxim answers the question:” What am I doing?”