Kant "The GoodWill"

What is contentment, and what is happiness for humans? What does he think is the best way to achieve happiness?

Contentment = satisfying all incentives of animal nature. Happiness = satisfying all incentives of complex beings. Instinct would be best path to being happy.

In what ways are duties supposedly noncontingent? What does he say about pleasure in relation to duties?

Duties are noncontingent because they are absolute and do not depend on the situation to be defined. Pleasure cannot be the basis for your duties because it totally depends on the situation at hand and is thus contingent.

What is the central idea that Kant's Groundwork investigates?

Finding the supreme principle of morality and examining The Moral Good.

What are practical laws? What is the difference between a law and an imperative? And why do moral/practical laws take the form of imperatives or duties for humans?

Laws are necessary, imperatives are should/ought to because humans can go against these imperatives. Practical Laws are a subset of the Laws of Reason.

What makes an action have moral worth and why? And what is the motive of duty?

Motive of duty is acting from duty, and is the only motive that guarantees the correct action because it is noncontingent and comes from The Good Will. This makes actions have moral worth.

And why are other good things only contingently good?

Only The Good Will is absolutely and noncontingent on anything, only upon itself. Therefore everything else is contingent on things and can be twisted to become evil.

In what ways is moral goodness supposedly noncontingent?

Results mean nothing, therefore moral goodness is totally defined by the good will behind those actions which is noncontingent.

Which basic use of reason is relevant here (which he calls "the will")?

The will is a practical use of our reasoning faculty to determine our choices

What are the different formulations of the Categorical Imperative? Do you understand the Formula of Humanity?

Universal Law (act as if your maxim would become a universal law), Law of Nature (act as if it'd become a law of nature), Formula of Humanity (act so that you use humanity as an end and never merely as a mean's. People have worth simply because they are people who possess practical reasoning, the highest good).

According to Kant, what is the good and why is it the good?

the highest supreme good, good in and of itself = pure practical reason.