Kant is concern with nature and morality. Against the background of eighteen century sciptism he i. e. the foundation of scientific knowledge and morality he proposed a comprehensive system of the universe in which their certainty is guaranteed. A Sceptism result from the error of seeking a basis of certainty, where it cannot be found and. it is located in reasoning.
Good will according to Kant is the efforts of rational beings to do what he ought to do, rather than to act from inclination or self-interest. Nothing is perfectly good but it is the good will is good. Intelligent, judgment, courage, resolutions, perseverance, as qualities of temperaments are no doughty good but theses all good become not good if the will is not good. It is only the good will that is unqualifiedly good, and it is a good will which makes an action good. The good will is still good even if it fails to achieve any goal, and have high moral worth than the goal achieved by immoral actions. If with its greatest efforts if it achieves nothing there should remain only the good will and it will still shin with its own light.
Kant further stated that reason itself is not an instrument of achievements of happiness but reason is the way to produce a good will and this good will then leads to enjoyment of life and happiness. Kant the explain the relationship of good will and duty and he says that a good will is that which acts for the sack of duty . and those human actions has a moral worth which are performed from duty instead of inclination and self-interest which may be praiseworthy if they happen for whatever reason to accord with duty but they are not moral. He given the example of a man who preserves life in routine conformity to duty is acting from inclination which is according to duty but not from duty, on other hand to preserve live when it has become a burden, only because duty require it is morally correct. Kant differentiated merely praiseworthy behavior from moral actions. Kant gives the example of a philanthropist who has a lot of worries and extinguishing the sympathy of others, and performs for the betterment of others in distress and he is not touched by their distress because he is fascinated by his own, now suppose if he is pull out from this unfeeling condition and he still perform for the benefits of those distress people not for inclination but only from duty then his work has a genuine moral worth. Then the preposition i. e. act must be performed from duty in order to have moral worth Kant further proceed the 2nd preposition that an act performed from duty derives its moral value , not from the result it produced , but from the principle by which it is determined. Means that an action derives its moral worth not from the purpose which is attained but from the maxim by which it determine and is not depended on the object but the principle of volition by which the action has taken place. He says that the moral worth of an action lies in the principle of will.
From these two prepositions Kant defines the duty, a morally right action is one done solely out of respect form the law, and its unique and unconditional worth is derived from this source. He explains that duty is the necessity of respect for the law. the work done from duty wholly exclude the influence of inclination and with it the object of the will so that nothing can determine the will but only objectively the law and subjectively pure respect for this practical law and consequently the maxim that one should follow this law even to the thwarting of all inclination.
Then he says that the supreme principle or law of morality which the good man must follow is the “ categorical imperative” rational being. to the extent that they act rationally , will always be guided by ethical principles or maxim which can be adopted by everyone else without any contradiction . and the conception of this law should determine the will even irrespective of its effects. Kant clarifies the categorical imperative i. e. The actions to be done because of the moral worth of the maxim and not for the sake of result. In contrast the hypothetical imperative tells us what ought to be done if a desired goal is to be achieved. For example telling the truth is the matter of principle is categorical imperative while on other hand you ought to tell the truth to avoid punishment is hypothetical imperative. He says that categorical imperative require s an individual to obey a maxim which can without contradiction, be willed to be ruled for everyone. It means that essence of morality lies in acting on the basis of impersonal principle which is valid for everyone, including oneself. He explain that a from a hypothetical imperative one can’t know that what it contain without a condition. But if one conceive a categorical imperative he knows what it contains. We can see Kant’s formulation of categorical imperative have it social implications , treat every human being as an end in himself, in brief we should all human being and avoid exploiting any one. Finally he brought to light with logical rigor the common man awareness of duty and shown it to be universal categorical imperative. he says that virtue in her proper form is nothing but contemplate morality coated of all admixture of sensible things.
