After a careful reading of Kants Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, please answer one of the following questions in the form of a 1,500-word essay: Book Used: Kant, Immanual. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Mary Gregor and Jens Timmermann, Revised edition, Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 2012 1. What is Kants concept of the good will and why does he think it is unconditionally good? Do you think Kant places appropriate emphasis on the concept with respect to the moral worth of actions? 2. What is Kants concept of duty? Do you think respect for the law is enough to give actions moral worth? 3. What place does Kant give to the inclinations in morality? Do you think his treatment of inclinations helps us in thinking about morally worthy action? 4. Why is Kant uninterested in making empirical arguments for the claim that actions have moral worth if they are motivated by respect for the moral law? Does his attempt to establish an a priori moral principle strengthen or weaken his case? 5. What is Kants Formula of the Universal Law? Do you think he has sufficiently shown us how to determine whether a maxim can be willed as a universal law? 6. What is the relationship between Kants derivation of the Formula of the Universal Law (FUL) in Section I (from the exclusion of inclination from the motivation for duty) and his derivation of the FUL in Section II (from the concept of a categorical imperative)? Are they complemen- tary? Do you find one account more compelling than the other? 7. What is Kants Formula of Humanity? Do you agree with Kant that we must respect each others rational capacities in all cases? 8. How does Kants Formula of the Universal Law compare with the Golden Rule? Do you think the former is superior to the latter with respect to our attempt to be good? 9. What is Kants principle of autonomy and how does it lead to the For- mula of the Kingdom of Ends? What does such a kingdom look like? Do you agree with Kant that the Kingdom of Ends should be the ulti- mate objective of morality? 10. Why does Kant think that his different formulations of the categorical imperative are just different ways of saying the same thing? Do you agree? Is one of the formulations stronger than the others?
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