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Why did Kant believe moral actions must be done from duty?

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Immanuel Kant German philosopher Immanuel Kant surrounded by Ouroboros, an emblematic serpent of ancient Egypt and Greece, engraving by John Chapman, published in London, 1812.

Immanuel Kant argued that actions possess moral worth only when performed from duty for its own sake, rather than from personal desires, inclinations, or expected consequences.12

For Kant, human beings are both flesh and spirit, meaning they experience a constant opposition between their desires and moral reason. Because actions driven by desires are contingent upon specific goals—what Kant termed hypothetical imperatives—they cannot be considered truly free or universally valid.3412

True freedom is found only in rational action, which must be governed by the categorical imperative: the requirement to act only according to maxims that one can simultaneously will to become a universal law. By acting from duty, an individual obeys the voice of reason rather than external authority or fleeting impulses. This approach defines deontological ethics, where the rightness of an action is determined by its adherence to moral rules that apply to all rational beings, regardless of their personal wants or the potential outcomes of the action.51234