Kant's Groundwork Of The Metaphysics Of Morals
In Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, he sets forth to explain the relationship between actions and their moral worth. In this paper, I will begin by explaining what determines the moral worth of actions based on the three types of motivations, distinguishing particularly between actions from duty versus in accordance with duty. Then, I will explain the seeming contradiction set forth in Kant’s examples of actions from duty. Finally, I will describe how Kant believes that most actions stem from a place of self-interest rather than duty, and argue that his distaste for this “self-love” is highly hypocritical.
Firstly, I will address the relevance of motivating factors in determining moral worth, and how Kant explains this. Unlike …show more content…
Kant gives many examples in which it is clear to see when an action stems from duty alone. In particular, he cites a suicidal person. A suicidal person, by definition, has no desire to be alive. However, killing yourself is an immoral action. Choosing to live, even against the person’s own will, thus becomes a moral action — the suicidal person is not acting out of self-interest or in the pursuit of any other goal. Rather, they stay alive because it is morally right. This is a clear example of an action motivated from a place of duty. In this way, Kant’s position on how motivation matters in terms of moral worth is clear: an action is only truly morally worthy when it comes from a place of duty, with no interfering factors that may otherwise motivate a …show more content…
Essentially, this phrase means that if one is to trace back the motivations for any actions, more often than not the root of the action will not be duty but self-interest. He even goes so far as to assert that an objective viewer can easily determine that pure virtue might not exist at all. Kant then links this back to the metaphysicality of ethics — that is, that morality is not found in empirical situations. Since a truly ethical action may never exist, morality thus must be grounded in a separate plane that is not influenced by any
Firstly, I will address the relevance of motivating factors in determining moral worth, and how Kant explains this. Unlike …show more content…
Kant gives many examples in which it is clear to see when an action stems from duty alone. In particular, he cites a suicidal person. A suicidal person, by definition, has no desire to be alive. However, killing yourself is an immoral action. Choosing to live, even against the person’s own will, thus becomes a moral action — the suicidal person is not acting out of self-interest or in the pursuit of any other goal. Rather, they stay alive because it is morally right. This is a clear example of an action motivated from a place of duty. In this way, Kant’s position on how motivation matters in terms of moral worth is clear: an action is only truly morally worthy when it comes from a place of duty, with no interfering factors that may otherwise motivate a …show more content…
Essentially, this phrase means that if one is to trace back the motivations for any actions, more often than not the root of the action will not be duty but self-interest. He even goes so far as to assert that an objective viewer can easily determine that pure virtue might not exist at all. Kant then links this back to the metaphysicality of ethics — that is, that morality is not found in empirical situations. Since a truly ethical action may never exist, morality thus must be grounded in a separate plane that is not influenced by any