The Significance of Motives and the Role of Duty in Morality in Kants Essay

The Significance of Motives and the Role of Duty in Morality in Kants Work - Essay Example This study outlines that Kant defines the right motive as doing the right thing, doing one’s duty and respecting the moral law in the process. In other words, to be rational is to constantly have the right motive/good will. Most important to morality, according to Kant, is thus a good will that makes people to automatically do their duty. Kant’s philosophy on morality was based on what he referred to as the â€Å"Categorical Imperative† (CI), which bases morality on a standard of rationality. â€Å"Formulations of the CI bring together the perspectives of one who seeks to act on principles that all others could share and one who seeks to act on principles that that respect all others’ capacities to act.†. In other words, to violate the CI is tantamount to immorality. In fact, other philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes agreed with Kant on this perception of morality, especially his basing of morality on the CI standards of rationality. F rom this paper it is clear that the fundamental of morality as contained in the CI is the law of an autonomous will and a self-governing reasoning in which people are viewed as possessing equal worth and as deserving equal respect. A rather useful work of Kant’s on morality is â€Å"The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals†. It covered morality-related issues like the aims and methods of moral philosophy, good will, moral worth and duty and duty and respect for moral law, among others. In later writings such as â€Å"The Critique of Practical Reason†, â€Å"The Metaphysics of Morals†, â€Å"Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View† and â€Å"Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason† he would later refine, develop, modify and enrich some of his views in this piece of work. Deductions from Kant’s Ideas There are two core and interesting conclusions that may be deduced from Kant’s ideas about morality and good will. Fir st, under no circumstances should people consider their morality as something they could just lose or forfeit in exchange for personal desires. In fact, â€Å"desirable traits such as courage, perseverance and cleverness may lose their values and get diminished or sacrificed in certain circumstances† .