Outline
Although all of Kant's work contains relations to his ethical theories, he clearly defined them in the works Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason and Metaphysics of Morals. Kant did not attempt to tell people what to do, but to help people determine how to behave by using their reason. Kant worked during the period of the Enlightenment where thinkers began to embrace the use of reason. As a part of this tradition, Kant based his ethical theory on the belief that reason should be used to determine what ought to be done. In doing so, he developed five formulations of his moral law: his first formulation was the categorical imperative; from this, he derived the Formula of Universal Law, the Formula of Humanity as an Ends in Itself, the Formula of Autonomy and the Kingdom of Ends.
In his combined works Kant constructed a basis for an ethical law, which he defined as morality, based on the concept of duty. Kant used the term "duty" to differentiate it from selfish motives, or motives to reach a certain goal. He argued that the only thing in the world which could be intrinsically good is a good will—he defended this by arguing that an action is only "good" if it is performed out of duty towards the moral law. Kant believed that all human behavior is based on maxims, the reason and principles behind a moral action.
In his Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals Kant constructed his ethical theory; in his Critique of Practical Reason he described the moral law as divine and described it as an essential a priori law of every free will in itself. Later, he connected his moral philosophies with politics and law in his Metaphysics of Morals.
Read more about this topic: Kantian Ethics
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