Outlines of a Critical Theory of EthicsDewey, John
Philosophy
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics
Dewey, John
Ethics
We have attempted, above, to deal with evolutionary
ethics only in the one point of its supposed connection
with pleasure as a standard. Accounts and criticisms
of a broader scope will be found in Darwin, Descent
of Man; Martineau, Op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 335-393;
Schurman, Ethical Import of Darwinism; Sorley, Ethics of
Naturalism, chapters V, and VI; Stephen, Science of Ethics,
particularly pp. 31-34; 78-89; 359-379; Royce, Religious
Aspect of Philosophy, pp. 74-85; Everett, Poetry, Comedy
and Duty, Essay on the New Ethics; Seth in Mind, Jan. 1889,
on Evolution of Morality; Dewey, Andover Review, Vol. VII,
p. 570; Hyslop, Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 348.
XXVII.
Formal Ethics.
We come now to the ethical theories which attempt to find the good
not only in the will itself, but in the will irrespective of any end
to be reached by the will. The typical instance of such theories is
the Kantian, and we shall, therefore, make that the basis of our
examination. Kant's theory, however, is primarily a theory not of the
good, but of the nature of duty, and that makes a statement of his
doctrine somewhat more difficult.
"The concept of good and evil must not be determined
before the moral law (of which it seems as if it must be
the foundation), but only after it and by means of it"
(Abbott's Trans., p. 154).
Separating, as far as we can, his theory of the good from that of duty,
we get the following results:
1. Goodness belongs to the will, and to that alone. "Nothing can
possibly be conceived, in the world or out of it, which can be called
good without qualification except a good will." The will is not good
because of what it brings about, or what it is fitted to bring about;
that is, it is not good on account of its adaptation to any end outside
of itself. It is good in itself. "It is like a jewel which shines by
its own light, having its whole value in itself."
2. The good, then, is not to be found in any _object_ of will or of
desire, nor in the will _so far as it is directed towards an end
outside itself_. For the will to be moved by inclination or by desire
is for it to be moved for the sake of some external end, which,
moreover, is always pleasure (Kant, _i. e._, agrees with the hedonists
regarding the object of desire, but on that very ground denies that
pleasure is the good or the desirable). If, then, no object of desire
can be the motive of a good will, what is its motive? Evidently only
some principle derived from the will itself. The good will is the will
which acts from regard to its own law.
3. What is the nature of this law? All objects of desire (_i. e._, all
material) have been excluded from it. It must, therefore, be purely
formal. The only content of the law of the good will is the _idea of
law itself_. The good will acts from reverences for law as _law_. It
not only acts _in conformity with law_, but has the conception of law
as its directing spring.
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