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For example if a person feels that life without wealth is meaningless, he might decide that if he ever becomes poor, he would become a hermit and quit social life. This would be his maxim and thus a principle by which he must abide when such a situation arises. Kant knew that only rational being could be expected to have a maxim of morality. 'Everything in nature, works in accordance with laws. Only a rational being has the power to act in accordance with his idea of laws, that is, in accordance with principles.' (Gr, 412)
However a person who has a maxim is not allowed acting on it unless he decides that it is something he would want for everyone. Kant argues that unless a person wants to attach universality to this maxim, it cannot be considered a correct principle or a moral one. this is known as the categorical imperative. One must categorically decide that he would want the law to become universal in nature. He thus says, "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (Gr, 421)
Kant distinguished between autonomy and heteronomy to explain his moral philosophy in greater depth. Apart from the imperative of universality, it is also important that one must be autonomous in his decisions....
Thus such a will is governed by nothing but my own sense of morality. However when one is trying to please a higher authority or following some moral code prescribed by someone else, this is called heteronomy.
Kant's ethical theory is simple and yet thorough in nature. I agree with Kant that one must be autonomous in his moral decisions and act only if he feels that such a law should universal in nature. Once we take the categorical imperative into account, we might actually see through the weaknesses of our so-called moral actions. A person may decide that he would kill himself if he ever became terminal ill but if he tries to see this maxim through broader angle he would be able to see its weaknesses and errors. Thus I agree with Kant on his moral philosophy.
References
H.J. Paton, the Categorical Imperative: A Study in Kant's Moral Philosophy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948)
Timmons, Mark, (ed.) Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays, Oxford University Press, 2002
Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by H.J. Paton. New York: Harper and Row, 1964
Paton: 19
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