Kantian Ethics

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Kantian Ethics

If philosophy should serve as an instrument of guidance for implementing our own morality, than Kant presents the driving factor as rationality behind such moral distinctions. In The Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morality, Kant states that there is no need to perceive whether moral law should be truly regarded above everything else, for it is only the goodwill that has the absolute moral worth that needs not to be validated. Kant further argues that since this truth is omnipresent in humanity, then it is humanity’s innate duty to adhere to it, no matter how strong inclination may tempt us. Kant concludes that since it is the moral law to which all beings are bound, the foundations of moral law depends exclusively on a priori knowledge, and not upon empirical or anthropological grounds.
With Kant’s basis for argument concentrated on how actions are determined by a binding moral law, the distinction between what may be regarded as an action of moral worth should be made to understand how a deviation from the innate rationality of morality may occur. An action, according to Kant, only displays moral worth if this action is taken out of respect for the moral law and the necessity to follow the maxim, with no influence from any inclinations.
For example, a shopkeeper can make many different choices of action to depending on what motives he relies on to determine whether to sell a child candy for a fair price. He can choose either to sell fairly or not to sell fairly, but it is whether his inclinations have influenced these motives for acting which determines whether his action has moral value according to Kantian theory. The shopkeeper may ignore to follow the moral law altogether andz+. charge the children for more than the rightful choice, guided by an irrational decision to follow his desire to make more money. According to Kant, if the shopkeeper chooses this action he is immoral, his action is of n...