Professional Ethics

The Good Will:
Kant claims that the only thing good in itself is the “Good Will.” Therefore, doing something just because you think it is good doesn’t make the act necessarily good. For example, your significant other asks you to go to the Dave Chappelle show with them. You either go because you know it will make them happy, or you go because you are a huge Dave Chappelle fan or you reluctantly go to the show even though you have tons of homework to do.
According to Kant doing an act of good will means doing it strictly for the sake of duty. This means you are simply doing it because it is your job to do so. So in the situation with the Dave Chappelle show, if I were to go reluctantly to the show even though I have homework to do, I would be going out of good will. The other two reasons for going wouldn’t be considered good will because I would be getting some sort of pleasure or reward out of attending the show. You should feel no emotions other than “you must do this because it’s your duty.”

The Function of Reason:
Kant’s moral philosophy is largely grounded on practical reasoning. Kant believes that “Human reason is by its nature architectonic.” Meaning that reason allows us to identify grounds behind every truth. Generality helps explain the way things are by grouping things together in higher and higher levels from particular and contingent to the global and universal. Kant argues that the entire empirical world must be conceived of by reason as causally necessitated. Kant explains that, “one state with a previous state upon which the state follows according to the rule.” Like a domino effect, each cause springing from each causes’s cause, and each additional ascending cause must itself have a cause. Reason outlines a hierarchy that provides you with the conception of a whole system of nature.

Duty:.
Kant believed that