Common Sense of Duty
Kant states that there is nothing "which can be regarded as good without qualification, except a good will." A good will is the moral compass that always seeks good: if an agent fails, it is not the fault of the good will but of the agent's ability to carry it out.
In the opening section, Kant explains what is commonly meant by moral obligations and duty. It is fairly common sense, he writes, not to consider moral an act done out of inclination for the self. A shopkeeper with honest prices does so foremost to be respected by his customers, not for the sake of honesty. He "deserves praise and encouragement, but not esteem." It is common knowledge that the people for whose good actions there is no reward are those who act most morally. Kant revises this in his declaration that they are the only people acting morally. We esteem a man who gives up his life because he gains nothing in doing so. "Duty is the necessity to act out of reverence for the law." Thus, to follow the moral law, the intrinsic sense of right and wrong, is our greatest obligation.
Read more about this topic: Groundwork Of The Metaphysic Of Morals
Famous quotes containing the words common, sense and/or duty:
“The common behavior of mankind is the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (18891951)
“Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a that,
That sense and worth, oer a the earth,
May bear the gree, an a that.
For a that, and a that,
Its comin yet, for a that
That man to man, the warld oer,
Shall brithers be for a that.”
—Robert Burns (17591796)
“Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)