Kant’s Moral Philosophy | Report

Running head: KANT’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY
Kant’s Moral Philosophy
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1KANT’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY
Introduction:
Kant’s explanation of good will is present in the first section of his book ‘Groundwork of
Metaphysics of Moral”. In this first section of the book, the argument that Immanuel Kant
provides is that there are two distinct features of moral goodness, from the conception of
goodness. He then further moves on to describe the formula of the universal law. Contrary to this
argument, Epictetus and Hobbes presents two alternate explanations of will and ethics. The
following essay deals with the explanation of how Kant used the good will to argue for the
human moral responsibility and also presents the thesis statement that Epictetus’s concept of
detachment of free will is logically more convincing than that of Kant’s.
Discussion:
According to Immanuel Kant, the concept of good will begins with the human
personality. As per his definition of good will, he says that the notion of good will si associated
with the idea of a good person or the idea of his good heart. The fundamental argument that he
proposes in his book is that a person has a good will only is he possesses a will which is
determined by moral law. If the human will performs decisions on the basis of morality, only
then human will is considered to be good will (Kant, 2017). The person should be performing
tasks and taking decisions morally and whose behavior is guided by the moral considerations.
Kant also says that a person with this sort of character is always valued. He says that if a person
uses his moral worth in certain circumstances, only because he had been committed to his moral
considerations, he would be a better person. Moreover according to him, a strong maintenance
and the commitment to the moral principles is worth taking a notice (Velkley, 2014). In the

2KANT’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY
philosopher’s terms, good will should be possessed by every person , irrespective of certain
circumstances or moral demands. This according to him is the moral law. Human beings
inevitably feel this Law as a constraint on their natural desires, which is why such Laws, as
applied to human beings, are imperatives and duties. He also explains that the duty of an
individual motivates the moral law of a person which is often considered to be a restriction
against the human desires (Aune, 2014). The human desires are present in a person
independently wand have the ability to operate without the demands of the moral will. However
this makes the goodness in the human beings a mere constraint. He also puts forward his
argument that the expression of good will is not possible with the dutiful actions of the motives
of self interest, or sympathy and happiness. According to the argument that the proposed, he also
said that the morality of the human beings depend upon their management of their desires and
will. He said that the human beings should control their free will and transform them into good
will which should be filled with the moral decisions. This morality should be used in order to
modify the natural s well as the social world (Willaschek, 2017).
In comparison to this, there has been the argument of Epictetus, who had been a Stoic
Philosopher and who presented his argument on will and ethic. He has always been a believer of
living life with ethical means and with utmost honor in the social platform. He argued that
despite of the personal conditions, and despite the personal desires, the people does have the
ability to live with utmost pride and with discipline (Altman, 2014). He argued with Kant on the
fact that people should not spend their time in focusing on the aspects of human desire that they
cannot control. Rather , the individuals should be concentrating on the aspects that they have the
ability to change and control because the negative things in the life are never helpful. He was
chiefly concerned with individual freedom and with self management. He did have his influence