According to Immanuel Kant, a maxim is a subjective principle or rule that the will of an individual uses in making a decision.

Morality and other rational requirements are demands that apply to the maxims that motivate our actions. The form of a maxim is ‘I will A in C in order to realize or produce E’ where ‘A’ is some act type, ‘C’ is some type of circumstance, and ‘E’ is some type of end. Since this is a principle stating only what some agent wills, it is subjective. (A principle for any rational will would be objective, which Kant refers to as a practical law.) For anything to count as human willing, it must be based on a maxim to pursue some end through some means. Hence, in employing a maxim, any human willing already embodies the form of means-end reasoning that calls for evaluation in terms of hypothetical imperatives. To that extent at least, then, anything dignified as human willing must be rational.

See also

• Categorical imperative
• Immanuel Kant

Kantianism | Philosophical terminology

Maxim