According to Immanuel Kant, a moral action is to be distinguished from an immoral one by the fact that it is performed out of duty and regardless of the pain or pleasure involved. I am behaving morally only when I do something without consideration of what I may get in return for it, when I am guided solely by duty: “For any action to be morally good, it is not enough that it should conform to the moral law—it must also be done for the sake of the moral law.”
