1. Kant: the good will, duty and the Categorical Imperative
Michael Lacewing
© Michael Lacewing

2. Deontology Morality is a matter of duty.
Whether something is right or wrong doesn’t depend on its consequences. Actions are right or wrong in themselves.
General duties towards anyone. Special duties resulting from personal relationships.
We each have duties regarding our own actions.
© Michael Lacewing

3. Actions and intentions
Actions result from choices, which are made for reasons and expressed in intentions
Types of action are distinguished by intentions, e.g. accidental killing v. murder
For many deontologists, whether an action is right or wrong is judged by the agent’s intention.
© Michael Lacewing

4. Kant: starting points
Maxim: personal principle that guides decisions (intention)
Morality: a set of principles that are the same for everyone and that apply to everyone
The will: our ability to make choices and decisions. We can make choices on the basis of reasons, so our wills are rational.
‘Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’
Why, and what does this mean?
© Michael Lacewing

5. The good will
Only the good will is morally good ‘without qualification’
Anything else (intelligence, power, happiness) can be bad or contribute to what is bad
A good will is not good because it does good acts
From the previous point: what is good about a good act?
A person may fail to succeed but still deserves praise
© Michael Lacewing

6. Duty To have a good will is to be motivated by duty
To act in accordance with duty is not yet to be motivated by duty: The honest shopkeeper
We should do our duty because it is our duty (to be motivated by duty)
But what is our duty??
What is morally right? What does a good will will?
How can a good will be good ‘in itself’?
It must be something about the maxims it adopts, but it can’t be what the maxims aim at (since only the good will is good without qualification)
© Michael Lacewing

7. The Categorical Imperative
Duty: a principle (maxim) for everyone
So, to have a good will, I have to choose to act on maxims that everyone can act on
This is the ‘Categorical Imperative’:
‘Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law’
An example: borrowing money with no intention of repaying the loan
© Michael Lacewing