Critique of Practical Reason

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Core Ideas

Moral Duty versus Noble Feelings

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Core Ideas Moral Duty versus Noble Feelings

Moral Duty versus Noble Feelings

Kant opposes his view of morality not only to those who regard the external marks of moral behavior as the most important, but also to those who stress the worth of noble and magnanimous feelings. According to Kant, not only is it unreliable to rely on a person's emotions, which can alter rapidly and without his being able to control them, but also the person who acts morally because of his altruistic feelings is still only acting to please himself, to satisfy his present mood. The truly moral person is the person who acts from a maxim of duty. It is nice and lucky for him and others if he has a kind heart, but whether he is emotionally virtuous or vicious, the important thing is that he holds to performing his duty.

Of course, the unattractive nature of the person who acts dutifully while hating it all the way is obvious, and Kant has often been attacked for this view. One area where Kant's view is especially hard to swallow is that of duty towards one's friends. While we are touched by a person visiting his friend in the hospital due to his concern for her, we feel far from enthused about the person who lacking such care comes to see his friend out of a feeling of duty.

It is true that we prefer the person who simulates a good character out of a sense of duty to someone who simply luxuriates in his viciousness, yet is this, the dutiful person, the best model for moral behavior in general? One might be more inclined to think of acting purely for duty as what the good person does on the relatively rare occasions when he cannot connect emotionally to his situation in the right way.

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