94 Moral Philosophy: Ideas of Good and Evil, Right and Wrongvirtue can and does lead to unhappiness. If, then, it is correct to
pursue virtue and happiness, but there is no necessary connec
tion between the two, then the dictates of practical reason require
that immortality, the continued existence of our spirit after death,
is a practical necessity in order to achieve the perfect good, i.e.,
virtue and happiness.
Finally, God is also a postulate of practical reason. Since there
will be no just distribution of happiness in relation to virtue in
this life, God must exist if one accepts the possibility of the goal
of the summum bonum and moral goodness. Kant contends that
since we are not completely rational, and thus not completely
good, the concept of an absolute good demands the existence of
a fully rational and good being. This being is called God. The
belief in morality and the search for perfection require their
attainment somewhere. That requirement is met by the existence
of God.
To sum up, Kant sought to establish an a priori basis of
morality. His concept of the good will as being unconditioned
good focuses attention on the intent, not the consequences, of
moral acts. Duty and respect for the law follow, and through the
use of the categorical imperative one achieves the essence of all
moral laws. Through the categorical imperative the concept of
universality is made clear, and the importance of universality to
morality is made necessary. Through the investigation of the
various imperatives, the idea that man is an end in himself, and
not a means is crucial to his concept called “intuitionism.”
Finally, his ideas about freedom, immortality, and God as
necessary conditions to the study of morality have had great
impact on how men study ethics. In fact, it has been said that the
study of ethics, while it can be approached without accepting
Kant’s postulates, cannot be approached without taking Kant’s
postulates into serious consideration.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
Arthur Schopenhauer was born in Danzig, Germany into a
prosperous and cosmopolitan family. His entrance into the
world of academia began early and continued in several coun
tries as he studied and traveled in France, Germany, England,
Switzerland, and Austria. He began writing with an intense