Ought implies can

'Ought implies can' is an ethical formula ascribed to Immanuel Kant that claims an agent, if morally obliged to perform a certain action, must logically be able to perform it: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0} Kant believed this principle was a categorical freedom, bound only by the free will as opposed to the Humean hypothetical freedom ('Free to do otherwise if I had so chosen'). There are several ways of deriving the formula—for example, the argument that it is wrong to blame people for things that they cannot control (essentially phrasing the formula as the contrapositive ''cannot' implies 'has no duty to'').