Immanuel Kant Paper
Immanuel Kant
HUM 400
12 Jun 2010
Kant 's "Good Will"
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the most influential philosophers in history of Western philosophy. A main representative of the Western-European classical philosophy, Immanuel Kant dealt with the best traditions of the German idealism. A human personality, according to Kant is the highest and absolute value. It is the personality, in Kant’s understanding, that towers the person over its own self and links the human being with the “order of things”. The “order of things”, according to Kant is the reflection of the “common sense”. The whole perceived world around us complies with the “order of things”. The most interesting part of Kant’s philosophy is that his own notion of the “order of things” and “common sense” is dual in case of analyzing it. In his work “Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals” Kant’s thoughts come to a vital question. This question lies in the fight between the undermost and highest abilities of a desire, between the longing to happiness and a good will that is a manifestation of duty. In this work it is very easy to trace Kant’s intension to oppose the "clean" teaching of morality and its degradation to any ethical relativism, which causes this degradation of morality. He tried to create the highest form of estimation of the ethical principles that managed morality? For he believed that the degradation of morality starts from, the impossibility to evaluate what is really wrong or right. Here, is the point where Immanuel Kant enters the definition of the notion “good will”. Kant explains what a “good will” is and what difference it makes in the perception of the moral actions that a person makes. Kant’s main intention is to underline the moral value of motivation and its realization at least through the presence of a “good will” in a person.
Analysis of Kant’s “good will”
“The only thing that is good without qualification or restriction is a good will”. Kant
HUM 400
12 Jun 2010
Kant 's "Good Will"
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is one of the most influential philosophers in history of Western philosophy. A main representative of the Western-European classical philosophy, Immanuel Kant dealt with the best traditions of the German idealism. A human personality, according to Kant is the highest and absolute value. It is the personality, in Kant’s understanding, that towers the person over its own self and links the human being with the “order of things”. The “order of things”, according to Kant is the reflection of the “common sense”. The whole perceived world around us complies with the “order of things”. The most interesting part of Kant’s philosophy is that his own notion of the “order of things” and “common sense” is dual in case of analyzing it. In his work “Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals” Kant’s thoughts come to a vital question. This question lies in the fight between the undermost and highest abilities of a desire, between the longing to happiness and a good will that is a manifestation of duty. In this work it is very easy to trace Kant’s intension to oppose the "clean" teaching of morality and its degradation to any ethical relativism, which causes this degradation of morality. He tried to create the highest form of estimation of the ethical principles that managed morality? For he believed that the degradation of morality starts from, the impossibility to evaluate what is really wrong or right. Here, is the point where Immanuel Kant enters the definition of the notion “good will”. Kant explains what a “good will” is and what difference it makes in the perception of the moral actions that a person makes. Kant’s main intention is to underline the moral value of motivation and its realization at least through the presence of a “good will” in a person.
Analysis of Kant’s “good will”
“The only thing that is good without qualification or restriction is a good will”. Kant
Bibliography: Abbott, I. K. (1829). Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. New York: Broadview Press Ltd. Beck, t. L. (1959). Foundations of Metaphysics of Morals. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Kessler. (2009). Voices of Wisdom. Mason: Cengage Learning.