Good will

According to Kant's understanding of good will, it is the mere thing that has unconditional worth. Neither gifts of nature like understanding,wit,courage,resolution nor gifts of fortune like riches, honor, health, even happiness, are not guaranteed to be morally good unless a good will is presupposed, because they could be either good or bad according to different motives. For example, wit is usually considered as a good trait for man because it could help people make smart decisions when they face problem but it could be also used to serve immoral action and carry it out successfully. From the point of view, the good will is the condition of moral worth of these traits and qualities. A good will is good not because of what it accomplished or success of obtaining the presupposed ends, but because of the goodness in itself. 

All other traits or qualities are efficient only when they are used to serve some ends that are out of themselves and therefore, the goodness is conditional to the ends they are serving. According to Kant, such kind of action has no intrinsic moral worth and only action from good will has absolutely and unconditionally worth. Good will does not depend on any external end. The value of it derives from itself. 

Kant refuses the interpretation of morality that attribute it to some preserved purposes like self-interest, happiness, self-preservation and so on. For example, a merchant charges the same price for one kind of good to all customers. If he does this only because that will bring more profit for him, then his action has, according to Kant, no moral worth. The end he is really pursuing is out of morality. In another word, the worth of his action is conditional to the end he pursues even though his action seems to be in conformity with duty. 

The point I should remember is that the good will has worth in itself and therefore, is absolutely good. It is the origin of worth itself. Once understand the special feature of good will, it will be easier to understand the distinction between action from duty and action in accord with duty.

Each sentence in the book deserves serious attention.