Immanuel Kant

The Good Will and

Autonomy
 Context for Kant
 Groundwork for Metaphysics of
Morals- 1785- after American
Revolution and Before French-
rights
 Morality is about respect for

persons
 Informs contemporary thought
Critiques Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism leaves rights
vulnerable-sacrifices one for
whole.
 That majority get pleasure or

favor a law- not make it right.

 No empirical interests, pleasures-

not calculation, right.

 Acting Freely
 Acting according to pleasures and
desires- acting according to a
determination given outside of us.-
Sprite ’Obey your thirst.”
 Heteronomy- falling from building-

governed by law of gravity- fall on

someone- not morally responsible.
 Look for Motive
 Ask for intention- why was it
done?
 Prudent Shopkeeper

 The Spelling Bee Hero

 Doing what is right- not

because of consequences.
 Kantian Ethics
 What is the Ultimate
Good?- “Good Will”
 What makes a person
“good” is possession of a
will that makes its
decisions on the basis of
moral law.
 The Good Will
 Would not forfeit our moral
goodness in order to attain some
desirable end or object.
 The value of other qualities can be
sacrificed or diminished under
certain circumstances.
 Williams- Integrity- living with self.
Good Will and Duty
 A good will is determined by moral
demands- constrained to act in
certain ways- according to duty.
 The moral agent, for Kant, gives
priority to the moral demand- does
not mean rule-bound character
devoid of the warmth of human
emotion.
 Respect for Moral Law
 How different-? Respect
the law or don’t- May
violate moral requirements.
 As beings of rational will- it
is a law of practical reason-
prescribes now any rational
being should act.
 Imperatives
 Hypothetical- an “if then” type
of command- desire some end.
 Distinction between ends that
we “might will” and those
which we “must will.
 Happiness- indeterminate-
happy without; happy with.
Categorical Imperative
 “ Act only in accordance with that
maxim through which you can at
the same time will that it become
a universal law.”
 Incorporates your reason as law.
 Becomes a universal law
governing all rational agents.
 What world becomes by this law.
 Contrasts in Kant
 (Morality) Duty versus
Inclination
 (Freedom) Autonomy versus

Heteronomy
 (Reason) Categorical verus

Hypothetical Imperative
 Different Duties
 Perfect duty to self-suicide no.
 Perfect duty to others-
promises as example.- self-
contradictory, world. p. 63-4
 Imperfect duty-self-talents.

 Imperfect duty to others-

helping others.
 The Humanity Formula
 “Never act in a way that you
treat Humanity, whether self
or others, as a means only but
always as an end in itself.”
 Respect for persons’ wills.

 Regard- not a matter of degree

or standard of judgment.
 Kingdom of Ends
 “Act in accordance with the maxims of
a member giving universal laws for a
merely possible kingdom of ends.”
 Our moral obligation is to act only on
principles which could earn the
acceptance of a community of fully
rational agents each of whom has an
equal share in legislating principles for
the community.
 Autonomy
 “The idea of the will of every
rational being as a will that
legislates universal law.”- laws
are of our own making.
 Autonomy- our status as free
moral agents is the source of our
dignity and worth- we are “moral
beings above all.”
 Virtue and Vice
 Virtue is acting according to
principles and have moral
strength of will. It is not a
matter of degree.
 It is a disposition to give

decisive priority to moral

demands.
 Deontological?
 Priceless value of a rational
agent’s autonomous will.
 Value of good will and person
independent of the objects of our
rational choices.
 You act out of universal principle
exceptionless- Elements, (124f).