The Motive of Duty and Kantian Moral Worth

ABSTRACT

In this article, it is argued that action from duty has special moral worth on Kant's account because (i) it is an instance of good willing, and (ii) the good will is the only unconditional good. This is used to argue, contrary to various commentators, that Kant's doctrine of moral worth is central, not only to Kantian ethics, but to any deontological ethics. It is suggested that, if this is correct, then there are grounds for taking the first line of part I of the Groundwork to a Metaphysics of Morals to be the long‐debated, unenumerated first proposition in the deduction of the Formula of Universal Law.