ABSTRACT
A form of Rationalism was the dominant ethical theory in Germany, and Immanuel Kant was a Rationalist by training as well as by temperament. In Groundwork II, Kant appears to think there is no difficulty about analyzing the concept of obligation. The starting point of Kant’s analysis is that a morally good action is one done from the motive of duty, or a right action is one that is done by a morally good person because it is right. Because he is analyzing common knowledge, Kant starts from an idea which he expects the reader, once he recognizes it, to accept: that nothing is unconditionally valuable except a good will. In fact, the idea of a maxim is essential to Kant’s solution of the problem of obligation. As Kant says, if the man does will the maxim, he cannot also be willing it as a law, but rather must be regarding himself as an exception.
