http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~curd/110WK11.html
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
H. J. Paton: “In spite of its horrifying title Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals is one of the small books which are truly great: it has exercised on human thought an influence almost ludicrously disproportionate to its size.”
Morality is a priori
For Kant, universality and necessity are the hallmarks of the a priori. Morality commands universally (all rational beings, not just all humans) and necessarily (no exceptions, regardless of circumstance). Therefore, ....
A second reason (not given by Kant) for regarding moral knowledge as independent of experience: the logical gulf between descriptive and prescriptive statements, aka Hume's “is/ought” problem. Since it is impossible to deduce how we ought to behave from observations of our actual behavior, our knowledge of moral principles could not have arisen from experience. Hence, it must come, a priori, from reason alone.
The Good Will
Kant on why a good will is the only thing that is good without qualification. Take anything (other than a good will) that we normally regard as good. In every case, we can imagine that, when not accompanied by a good will, these things would make the world worse rather than better. Therefore, none of these things is good without qualification. (529)
What does Kant mean by will? What does Kant mean good will?
To will something is NOT the same as merely wishing it or desiring it or having an inclination towards it. To will is to choose or decide upon a course of action. Kant assumes that the faculty of wi ...