Kant believed that the existence of God could never be proved by the cosmological or teleological arguments and thus thought that by getting rid of them he could produce his own arguments based on faith rather than reason, it is an inductive argument, not a deductive one.
Kant's starting point was the premise that there is a general universal sense of justice and good. He argued that it is by and large applicable to the majority of people. An example of this would be if a person were to see another person being bullied, in the majority of cases, the aforementioned person would feel duty bound or obliged to help the victim. This leads o a general sense of morality throughout the World. Although this morality cannot necessarily be proven it implies existence of God.
Kant's focus is on the aspect of obligation, that a person feels obliged to do good, knowing that it will bring about more good and overall more happiness this search for the higher goo is referred to as the Summum Bonum.. Kant also states that for his proposed theory to be feasible then there must be a universal moral law, that a person must fin through use of reason. Once this universal moral law is found then a person will feel a duty to follow it. This law become categorical, essential and it becomes imperative that everyone should follow it.
Another way of considering this moral argument is that man as a moral being has a duty to strive after the highest good, the Summum Bonum. That is to say that a man should realise happiness through moral perfection. This is arguing that we could not be happy without being morally good people as being morally good is part of the nature of human happiness. Kant argues that evil should be and is seen as dysfunctional, it is generally a universal agreement that evil is something that no one would want for themselves.
Kant moves on to say that if we accept that this instinctive duty of good deeds exists it must be capable of achievement It is fait to say that despite differing opinions of "good" we all have the urge to do it. Kant follows that no such urge could possibly exist for a thing that is completely non achievable.
He continues that it is apparent that humans cannot by their own means obtain happiness. The highest ideals of humanity still fail to accomplish the aim, disagreement within oneself over moral issues would cause conflict and thus unhappiness and thus our inner yearnings cannot be satisfied by human efforts.
Finally Kant summarises that if there is to be an eventual supreme happiness or Summum Bonum then we must postulate a perfect being that can bring about this supreme happiness and a life within which it can be achieved. This missing link that can bring humanity the means to achieve their own happiness fits the form of a perfect God.
God Bless,
Nelson Doyle