“Nothing can be conceived in the world, or even out of it which can be called good without qualification, except a good will”.(261) In the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant defines the good will (duty/ universal law)as a rational basis for morality that would be correct for all people at all times and in all circumstances.(260) Kant saw that the good will contrasted with good fortune or what many people believed to be happiness/good character (ex Aristotle’s virtues). He asserted that these pleasures had a high risk to become” extremely bad and mischievous if the will which is to make use of them...is not good." (loyne.edu) Kant believed that morality was matter of reason and that the moral worth of person depended on their intentions not the “contingencies of fate”(261) Through the use practical
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In his pursuit he believed that logic, a priori, held the key to the good will. He unlike many philosophers worked to become worthy of happiness not just achieve it. It was interesting to see how he focuses on the concept of duty/ motives and how that did not necessarily have to do with happiness at all. Which I can see as true the right thing does not always align with our pleasures. In a way he worked to develop a way that most people could live in peace- if they believed/followed the mental and physical conditions(the good society) of the categorical imperative. In his work the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Moral, he touches on the topics of a good state and what it really means to be autonomous. I view this theory as a very modern way of thinking and more realistic than the ideas of Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes. He develops his concept through the idea of science and reasoning and builds off of the great thinker Hume. In all Immanuel Kant creates an ethical code that many of us can relate to and in many ways surpasses the brilliant minds that came before
In his pursuit he believed that logic, a priori, held the key to the good will. He unlike many philosophers worked to become worthy of happiness not just achieve it. It was interesting to see how he focuses on the concept of duty/ motives and how that did not necessarily have to do with happiness at all. Which I can see as true the right thing does not always align with our pleasures. In a way he worked to develop a way that most people could live in peace- if they believed/followed the mental and physical conditions(the good society) of the categorical imperative. In his work the Grounding for the Metaphysics of Moral, he touches on the topics of a good state and what it really means to be autonomous. I view this theory as a very modern way of thinking and more realistic than the ideas of Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes. He develops his concept through the idea of science and reasoning and builds off of the great thinker Hume. In all Immanuel Kant creates an ethical code that many of us can relate to and in many ways surpasses the brilliant minds that came before