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Groundwork For The Metaphysics Of Morals By Immanuel Kant

1433 Words6 Pages

Kayta Gheorghian
Taylor Thomas
Philosophy of a Person II
March 17, 2023

The Categorical Imperative: From 1785 to Present Day

As conscious beings on this planet, the majority of us act selfishly more times than not. While some may genuinely and consciously strive to act morally and in alignment with the good will, it might be hard to make the best decision in every instance that life throws one’s way. In his book, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant provides his wisdom and works through his view on the institution of moral philosophy and its relations to aspects of human life by providing a formula defined by the categorical imperative. This formula serves as a guide in moral decision-making and establishes a universal …show more content…

He beings by asserting, “nothing in the world … can possibly be conceived that could be called ‘good’ without qualification except a good will.” Kant continues to list many qualities – such as intelligence and courage – that one might argue to be good but are not because they are dependent upon some secondary motivation or the possible outcomes that could arise rather than the intrinsic goodness of the action. The distinction lies in the notion that even if a good will never produces the desired product of happiness, it will always be considered good. Conjointly, he declares the obligations of a good will as duties, essentially meaning that our moral responsibility is an obligation to others. He continues by outlining three propositions of morality, and “the third proposition – a consequence of the first two,” asserts that, “to have a duty is to be required to act in a certain way out of respect for law.” Arguing that since moral law is universal, it must follow that duties are moral requirements that are completely independent of personal interests and that acting dutiful adds moral worth to actions. Understanding that he cannot explicitly list out the moral actions of every particular circumstance, Kant draws on the concept of aiming to equate the maxim of an action to universal law. Vindicating this proposition, he provides the …show more content…

Assessing my character, there are many times which I knowingly act selfishly, yet, there are also moments where I lay awake at night reflecting on my day and realize I subconsciously acted selfishly. Usually, these instances tend to haunt me for some time and are followed by days of moving and speaking vigilantly and I have noticed a trend within these periods of time: I would purposefully act based on the very categorical imperative that Kant has specified. I think this is the same reason that elementary teachers enforce the acronym, “T.H.I.N.K. before you speak,” as reason is the defining basis of

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