Outlines of a Critical Theory of EthicsDewey, John
Philosophy
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics
Dewey, John
Ethics
One example will help define the discussion. Take the case of a street
railway conductor, whose union has ordered a strike. What determines
the law of his conduct under the circumstances? Evidently the existing
ethical institutions of which he is a member, so far as he is conscious
of their needs. To determine what he should do, he does not hunt up
some law of an 'ought' apart from what is; if he should hunt for and
should find such a law he would not know what to do with it. Just
because it is apart from his concrete circumstances it is no guide, no
law for his conduct at all. He has to act not in view of some abstract
principle, but in view of a concrete situation. He considers his
present wage, its relation to its needs and abilities; his capacity
and taste for this and for that work; the reasons for the strike; the
conditions of labor at present with reference to winning the strike,
and as to the chance of getting other work. He considers his family,
their needs and developing powers; the demand that they should live
decently; that his children should be fairly educated and get a fair
start in the world; he considers his relationships to his fellow
members in the union, etc. These considerations, and such as these,
give the law to his decision in so far as he acts morally and not
instinctively. Where in this law-giving is there any separation from
facts? On the contrary, the more right the act (the nearer it comes
to its proper law), the more it will simply express and reflect the
actual concrete facts. The law, in other words, of action, is the law
of actual social forces in their onward movement, in so far as these
demand some response in the way of conduct from the individual.
We may restate from this point of view, what we have already learned:
A moral law is thoroughly individualized. It cannot be duplicated; it
cannot be for one act just what it is for another. The ethical world
is too rich in capacity and circumstance to permit of monotony; it is
too swift in its movement to allow of bare repetition. It will not hold
still; it moves on, and moral law is the law of action required from
individuals by this movement.
The consideration of specific institutions, as the family,
industrial society, civil society, the nation, etc.,
with their respective rights and laws, belongs rather to
political philosophy than to the general theory of ethics.
PART III.
THE MORAL LIFE OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
LVII.
Division of Subject.
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