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Immanuel Kant And Good Will

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Immanuel Kant remains one of the most influential modern philosophers in the realm of western philosophy. As a philosopher, Kant’s teachings stretched into the fields of, yet not inclusive to, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. However, it was Kant’s view of ethics that perhaps was paramount; it is as well important to delve further and pinpoint reason and good will as the source of morality in his ethical teachings. It is utterly inconceivable to simplify Kant’s works and theologies into less than 2,000 words; however, I will try.
Kant’s philosophical teachings branched into many different disciplines – challenging common notions and making significant impacts as he taught them. However, it is his ethical theory that has been the most …show more content…
Will is the ability to act in conjunction with the conception of law (Arrington). When humans act, the outcome of said actions is typically out of control, similarly, the morality of our actions – as discussed above – is not affected by the outcome. What is wholly controllable, though, is the good will. We can only be assessed by the terms of motivation of an action. If two people were to preform identical actions, based on the same motivation but one of the two gets hindered on the way to achieving their goal because of something out of their control, their attempt is no less moral than the other person’s. Kant states that the good will is the only thing that is intrinsically good (Albert). Not even happiness is intrinsically good as it can lead a person to excessive boldness or pride, but “that a good will seems to constitute the indispensable condition of our very worthiness to be happy (Albert).” In other words, even happiness requires a good will. It is believed by Kant that “the goodness of the will must lie in its own nature (Arrington)” in other words it can not just be good because it has good effects, and its effects can be bad through no fault of the will not being good – a will that is motivated by moral principle is always good. It is easy then to believe that motivation that makes an action good must have a positive goal. However, that is not correct …show more content…
There are few overarching themes as each category, whether it be morality or the good will, is entirely particular to the person and situation without any two being the same. This allows for Kant’s theories to be entirely flexible, which although positive in some regards, can be slightly too ambiguous. He sets the groundwork with categorical and hypothetical imperatives, however, his main points then tend to be less restrained. Early philosophers, such as Plato and Socrates, had more outlined ways with which one could live a moral and virtuous life, but with Kant it is much simpler – do one’s duty. I bring up this point for the second time because it is how I view all of Kant’s ethical ideologies – while his views on metaphysics and his epistemologies have much more structure and uniformity – his ethics do not to a

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