Kantian Ethics

Goodwill

Kant begins the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals by asking what is intrinsically good, that is, what is good in and of itself rather than being good for something else. Kant considers a number of possibilities—obvious ones such as wealth and power and less obvious ones such as intelligence, wit, and other talents. All are found wanting. Why? Because they can all be misused for immoral ends. When one reflects on the matter, only goodwill passes the test of being intrinsically good.

Interpreters of Kant have often identified goodwill with good intentions and thus said that Kant's ethics is an ethics of good intentions, of doing right because it is right. On this interpretation, Kantian ethics looks like ordinary morality. If there is something in it for you, then even if your action conforms to morality, it is not really moral because it is not motivated by morality. “Honesty is the best policy” is a principle of prudence for Kant rather than a moral principle. In business ethics, behavior that contributes to the bottom line is rejected as truly moral by the person on the street. “That company is just doing good because they make money from it” is what is often said.

The problem with this interpretation is that the emphasis on intentions is too psychological. Kant is looking toward reasons rather than motivation in the psychological sense. An action is right if it is performed for the right reason and the person of goodwill is the person whose actions are based on or are in conformity with good reasons.

The Categorical Imperative: The Universal Law Formulation

To understand how goodwill reasons about a moral issue, one must understand the role of maxims and the distinction between hypothetical and categorical imperatives. Although it is tempting to say that Kant's ethics evaluates the ethics of actions, that is not strictly correct. What need to be evaluated are the maxims on which one acts. Some maxims are hypothetical because they are means to an end. “If you want an A, you need to study” and “If you want to have a good reputation, you cannot overcharge a child” are examples of hypothetical imperatives. If you do not care about getting an A or about having a good reputation, then there is no need to study or avoid overcharging [Page 1241]the child. On the other hand, a categorical imperative is one that binds you no matter what your other goals or purposes are. A categorical imperative obligates you with no ifs, ands, or buts. Kant's first formulation of the categorical imperative presents this demand: Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

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