On the Ethics of NaturalismSorley, W. R. (William Ritchie)
Philosophy
On the Ethics of Naturalism
Sorley, W. R. (William Ritchie)
Ethics; Ethics, Evolutionary
Connected with this is the assertion that morality must have an
inward, not an external standard. The evolutionists are inclined
to condemn utilitarianism as a theory of consequences, dealing
solely with work produced. According to Mill, "utilitarian moralists
have gone beyond almost all others in affirming that the motive
has nothing to do with the morality of the action, though much
with the worth of the agent."[148] And this seems to be just what
evolutionism objects to. Even the worth of the agent is, according to
utilitarianism, only a tendency to perform the actions called moral:
"a good or a bad disposition" is said to be "a bent of character from
which useful or from which hurtful actions are likely to arise."[149]
Against this view Mr Stephen maintains that "the attempt to secure
an absolute and immutable moral law in its external shape must be
illusory. The moral law can be stated unconditionally when it is
stated in the form 'Be this,' but not when it is stated in the form
'Do this.'"[150] This, however, appears to express the matter in a
way not free from difficulty. The organic view of conduct will object
not only to considering action apart from character, but also to
considering character apart from action. We must treat conduct as a
whole: and, in order to do so, we must treat it as both arising out
of and forming character; and we must treat character not as mere
potentiality, but as it realises itself in conduct. The weakness of
the utilitarian theory is its method of treating actions merely in
respect of their results: the evolutionist must show how results are
connected with motives,--how character and conduct are different
aspects of a whole.
[Sidenote: (c) and as related solely to sensibility,]
[Sidenote: of which there is no common measure.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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