Imperatives

Throughout Kant’s “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” he acknowledges the idea that for something to be considered pure good will, the person must act on that rather than on the basis that the pure act will advantage them to some point. I am going to clarify some of the text present on page 4:415 about imperatives. Kant describes two types of imperatives in his work-hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives represent when a will is good, but is conditionally a means to something else. Categorical imperatives also represent when a will is good, but it is unconditional and pure. However, it is very difficult to truly distinguish something as a pure will without the knowledge that no other force is influencing the acts of someone. Kant describes the categorical imperatives as priori that require universal validity. Kant discusses hypothetical imperatives which can be divided into the two categories of problematically or apodictically.  The hypothetical imperatives go against Kant’s belief of what good will is because the acts are only done in a means of achieving a certain purpose.  However, hypothetical imperatives are more complicated when dealing with the goal of happiness because it is unknown what will bring about that goal. Neither hypothetical imperatives nor categorical imperatives can be easily defined due to many underlying indistinguishable factors.