groundwork of the metaphysics of morals · kant

Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of 1785 sets out to find the supreme principle of morality and finds it in the categorical imperative: act only on maxims you could will as universal law, and treat humanity always as an end. Duty, the good will, autonomy and the dignity of rational beings are its themes, in the foundational text of modern ethics.

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, edited by Mary Gregor and Jens Timmermann (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Read in full, Junior Spring at Torrey Honors.