Blasi And Duty, By Immanuel Kant

A moral life is a life that most people aim for when growing and learning. This morality is obtained through motivation that can be achieved in different ways. Depending on what philosopher or individual is sharing their ideas, the motivation will differ. Throughout this paper there will be a few examples of philosopher’s ideas of moral motivation. The story of Socrates’s multitudinous beast will be told and how this can affect someone’s moral motivation. Moral motivation can be found in other ways like through identity, as told by Augusto Blasi, and duty, as told by Immanuel Kant. It is intriguing to see the perspectives of different people on what they think is behind moral motivation. Many people are in favor of a moral life because it is

He explains that he feels that moral motivation has a lot to do with a person’s identity and who they see themselves as. He states that “when morality is important and central to one’s self and identity, it heightens one’s sense of obligation and responsibility to live consistent with one’s moral concerns” (Hardy and Carlo, 234). In Blasi’s point of view, one's moral motivation comes from who they are and who they want to be. He states that when a person is interested in being moral, they will make decisions that reflect this. Everyone’s definition of morality varies, but he says that identity is the center of these decisions. Everybody is also different in their own ways which gives each individual a different identity. Blasi created a model on this idea that he acquired. The model that was made is called “Self Model of moral functioning” (Hardy and Carlo, 235). This model has three parts to it that explain identity as moral motivation. Along with the model that Blasi created, he also explained what he thought the framework of human identity is. In his mind “the sense of self becomes based more on internal, psychological identity contents, such as values and goals” where external characteristics are things such as “physical characteristics, relationships, and behaviors” (Hardy and Carlo, 236). Since values are an internal characteristic of humans, morals also can be

All of these sources have valid points and arguments to back up their beliefs on moral motivation. Moral motivation is a factor that one hopes everyone has in their life. Whether it be motivation from the multitudinous beast, identity, or duty depends on the person. Morality is important in life because it is the basis of decisions, relationships, behavior, and interactions. Socrates, as Plato’s mouthpiece told the story of the multitudinous beast to try and prove that the soul and inside of the body can act as a checks and balances for a decision being made. The human will justify to the lion so that the beast does not eventually take control of a person's whole body. Similar to Socrates, Blasi states that identity is what motivates people morally and this takes place on the inside of the body rather that the outside. On the other hand, Kant concludes that this moral motivation comes from acts of duty. In other words, people only obey rules or laws because they feel that it is the only right thing to do. People do not want to follow rules or laws because they genuinely want to, they do it because they are told that is what has to be done. All of these things combined are only a few ideas that surround the topic of moral motivation. There are many people who have different ideas about this subject. It is interesting to gather all of this information on a topic and compare people's thoughts about it. Moral motivation