Kant's Suicide Analysis

1. According to Kant, a good will is the only thing that is good without qualification. A good will is one that is governed by reason, which involves being motivated by duty and not by inclination or by consideration of the consequences. To Kant, our duty is to obey the moral law, expressed by the categorical imperative. As such, Kant’s notion of good will is not utilitarian since Kant believes that certain types of actions (including murder, theft, and lying) are absolutely prohibited, even in cases where the action would bring about more happiness than the alternative. In other words, he argues that the rightness or wrongness of actions does not depend on their consequences but on whether they fulfill our duty.

2. Kant does not condone suicide