The Principles Of Morals By David Hume

In An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, David Hume explains that public utility is the foundation of the chief part of morals because we act on moral sentiments and passions and that we care about the outcome. However, in the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant argues that good will is the only thing that is good without qualification because actions are taken only for the sake of duty and that the moral quality of an action is based solely on the motive that produced it. I strongly agree with Kant due to the fact that morality is based upon only good will because caring about the outcome doesn 't necessarily mean that the actions taken to bring that said outcome are moral. Furthermore, actions taken for the sake

Hume also states that we must care about the outcome in order to care about how that said outcome is achieved. The basis for Hume’s claim that public utility is defined by our passions and sentiments comes from the statement that the outcome must be useful to many others for that said outcome to be virtuous. Hume states that the natural virtues such as compassion, generosity and friendship motivate us to act rather than reason. Hume explains how public utility is what determines an action, he says “And as the public utility of these virtues is the chief circumstance, whence they derive their merit, it follows, that at the end, which they have a tendency to promote, must be in some way agreeable to us” (Hume 302). Basically, public utility is what drives actions because it gives values to actions that are based on virtues because they are useful to others. People’s actions are not moral because they are based on a certain virtue but they are moral because they have utility with others. Unlike Hume, Kant proposes that an action 's moral worth is not determined by public utility but by the motive by which it is acted upon. On the other