evil person). The good will is unique in that it is always good and maintains its moral value even when it fails to achieve its moral intentions. Kant regarded the good will as a single moral principle that freely chooses to use the other virtues for moral ends. For Kant, a good will is a broader conception than a will that acts from duty. A will that acts from duty is distinguishable as a will that overcomes hindrances in order to keep the moral law. A dutiful will is thus a special case of a good will that becomes visible in adverse conditions. Kant argues that only acts performed with regard to duty have moral worth. This is not to say that acts performed merely in accordance with duty are worthless (these still deserve approval and encouragement), but that special esteem is given to acts that are performed out of duty. Kant's conception of duty does not entail that people perform their duties grudgingly. Although duty often constrains people and prompts them to act against their inclinations, it still comes from an agent's volition: they desire to keep the moral law. Thus, when an agent performs an action from duty it is because the rational incentives matter to them more than their opposing inclinations. Kant wished to move beyond the conception of morality as externally imposed duties, and present an ethics of autonomy, when rational agents freely recognize the claims reason makes upon them. Perfect and imperfect duties Applying the categorical imperative, duties arise because failure to fulfill them would either result in a contradiction in conception or in a contradiction in the will. The former are classified as perfect duties, the latter as imperfect. A perfect duty always holds true. Kant eventually argues that there is in fact only one perfect duty -- The Categorical Imperative. An imperfect duty allows flexibility—beneficence is an imperfect duty because we are not obliged to be completely beneficent at all times, but may choose the times and places in which we are. Kant believed that perfect duties are more important than imperfect duties: if a conflict between duties arises, the perfect duty must be followed. Categorical imperative The foundation of Kant's ethics is the categorical imperative, for which he provides four formulations. Kant made a distinction between categorical and hypothetical imperatives. A hypothetical imperative is one that we must obey if we want