Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals › Duty and Inclination

From the good will, Kant moves to the concept that makes it concrete: duty. A good will is one that acts from duty (from recognition of what morality requires) rather than from mere inclination. ::: {.callout-note title="Duty (Pflicht)"} For Kant, duty is the necessity of acting from respect for moral law. An action has moral worth when it is performed because it is right, not because it satisfies our desires or serves our interests. ::: Kant illustrates this with his famous examples. Consider a shopkeeper who gives correct change to all customers, including the inexperienced. If he does this because honesty is good for business (because a reputation for fairness brings more customers), he acts in accordance with duty but not from duty. His motivation is self-interest, and the same motive might lead him to cheat if he could get away with it. Contrast this with someone who is genuinely honest: who gives correct change because honesty is right, regardless of whether it benefits him. This person acts from duty, and their action has moral worth. Kant acknowledges that this can seem counterintuitive. We often praise people who are naturally kind, who help others from spontaneous affection. But Kant asks us to consider: if someone helps others only when they feel like it, what happens when they do not feel like it? True moral commitment must be independent of our shifting feelings. The person who helps others even when exhausted, even when it brings no satisfaction, even when every inclination pulls against it, demonstrates genuine moral worth. Kant does not condemn emotions or ask us to become cold moral calculators. Having good emotions is valuable and makes moral life easier. But emotions cannot be the foundation of morality because they are unreliable and outside our direct control. What we can control is our will, the principle from which we act. A will governed by duty will produce the right action consistently, even when our feelings fail to align.