Kant's Claim For The Origin Of Moral Motivation

In this paper, I will compare the argument Hume makes and Kant’s claim for the origin of moral motivation. First, I will look at the argument made by Hume, who argues that passion is the root of all moral motivation. Then, I will examine the claim made by Kant, who posits that reason is the origin of moral judgements. After showcasing both, I will compare the two. Finally, I will conclude by arguing that Hume’s argument for the origin of moral judgements is the stronger of the two. It is more coherent, and better constructed than the claim made by Kant. Hume’s argument for the origin of moral motivation stems from the idea that our passions provide sole foundation for morality. When Hume says “passions,” today we would call those our desires, thoughts, and feelings. In essence, Hume argues that our moral motivations arise from how we think and feel, rather than any kind of logic or reason. …show more content…
Reason of itself is utterly impotent in this particular. The rules of morality, therefore, are not conclusions of our reason.” (Hume 81)
In this excerpt, Hume states that Morality is what motivates us to act, which excites our passions. He says that morals cannot be motivated by reason, because reason cannot motivate us to act. We append emotions such as blame and praise to moral judgements, but not to rationally derived statements. Morality is not based on facts; whether something is true or not has no influence on whether it is bad or good. Finding something virtuous is not a matter of reason, it is a matter of