The Importance Of Good Will

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The one thing in the world that is considered good without conditions is good will itself. This is due to the fact that many qualities are considered good and yet those same traits can turn malicious and harmful. For example, intelligence can be seen as a positive trait with good intentions, however if you use that intelligence for the wrong reasons, examples being the plethora of dictators in history including Stalin, Hitler etc, then that “good” quality becomes a quality with bad intentions. Good will is intrinsically good even if the results brought about are not as intended because “good will is good for how it wills” (Kant, Page 5). There are two purposes to be considered, one being the unconditional purpose of producing a good will and …show more content…

Kant states that in his writing that a man who has been cold hearted and had difficultly feeling for others, still benefits others in his distress, but their need does not affect him as he is preoccupied with his own problems. However, he reflects on this and finds it inside him to act charitably purely from duty, without feeling want or liking so to behave this way. He was seen as deprived by human nature from being warm hearted ,however he himself found it in himself a source from which to give himself a far higher worth then if he had been given the warm hearted temperament naturally. It was an act that needed will power in order to act accordingly and it was not for any outside goal. “He is a beneficent not from preference but from duty” (Kant, Page 9). This relates to a person who barely resists the temptation to shoplift through pure “willpower” deserving more moral credit than a person that never even tempted to shoplift. In comparison to the previous example it is made clear those whose natural temperament is not given such as natural temperament of warm heartedness or a natural temperament to not steal, an effort needs to be made to overcome and develop that temperament. Kant portrayed the one man who had to develop a sense of charity to help others simply from a sense of duty not for a reward, just as this person had to overcome the sensation to shoplift for the sense of duty not for an outside obligation. The person who never had the temptation to shoplift does not deserve more moral credit according to Kant because this is done out of an outside obligation usually being honor. An act is formally described as having moral worth according to Kant if it is in accordance with the moral law, if it is not performed from inclination whether if that inclination is selfish or for others, and it is performed from respect for the moral law. Not shoplifting at a store using

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