Outlines of a Critical Theory of EthicsDewey, John
Philosophy
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics
Dewey, John
Ethics
Pleasure, as the end, fails also to throw light on the moral value of
any specific acts. Its failure in this respect is, indeed, only the
other side of that just spoken of. There is no organizing principle,
no 'universal' on the basis of which various acts fall into a system
or order. The moral life is left a series of shreds and patches, where
each act is torn off, as to its moral value, from every other. Each
act is right or wrong, according as _it_ gives pleasure or pain, and
independently of any whole of life. There is, indeed, no whole of
moral life at all, but only a series of isolated, disconnected acts.
Possession, passivity, _mere_ feeling, by its very nature cannot
unite--each feeling is itself and that is the end of it. It is action
which reduces multiplicity to unity. We cannot say, in the hedonistic
theory, that pleasure is the end, but _pleasures_.
Each act stands by itself--the only question is: What pleasure will
_it_ give? The settling of this question is the "hedonistic calculus."
We must discover the intensity, duration, certainty, degree of nearness
of the pleasure likely to arise from the given act, and also its
purity, or likelihood of being accompanied by secondary pains and
pleasures. Then we are to strike the balance between the respective
sums on the pleasure and pain sides, and, according as this balance is
one of pleasure or pain, the act is good or evil.
Bentham, Op. cit., p. 16, was the first to go into detail
as to this method. He has also given certain memoriter
verses stating "the points on which the whole fabric of
morals and legislation may be seen to rest.
Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure,
Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure,
Such pleasures seek, if private be thy end.
If it be public, wide let them extend.
Such pains avoid whichever be thy view,
If pains must come, let them extend to few."
This, however, in its reference to others, states the
utilitarian as well as the hedonistic view.
Now, it must be remembered that, if pleasure is the end, there is no
intrinsic connection between the motive of the act, and its result.
It is not claimed that there is anything belonging intrinsically to
the motive of the act which makes it result in pleasure or pain. To
make such a claim would be to declare the moral quality of the act the
criterion of the pleasure, instead of pleasure the criterion of the
act. The pleasures are external to the act; they are irrelevant and
accidental to its quality. There is no 'universal,' no intrinsic bond
of connection between the act and its consequences. The consequence is
a mere particular state of feeling, which, in this instance, the act
has happened to bring about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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