Outlines of a Critical Theory of EthicsDewey, John
Philosophy
Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics
Dewey, John
Ethics
We have attempted to show that the various interests are social in
their very nature. We have not attempted to show that this can be
seen or proved in any given case. On the contrary, in most, if not
all cases, the agent acts from a faith that, in realizing his own
capacity, he will satisfy the needs of society. If he were asked to
_prove_ that his devotion to his function were right because certain to
promote social good, he might well reply: "That is none of my affair.
I have only to work myself out as strength and opportunity are given
me, and let the results take care of themselves. I did not make the
world, and if it turns out that devotion to the capacity which was
given me, and loyalty to the surroundings in which I find myself do
not result in good, I do not hold myself responsible. But, after all,
I cannot believe that it will so turn out. What is really good for me
_must_ turn out good for all, or else there is no good in the world
at all." The basis, in a word, of moral conduct, with respect to the
exercise of function, is a faith that moral self-satisfaction (that
is, satisfaction in accordance with the performance of function as
already defined) means social satisfaction--or the faith that self and
others make a true community. Now such faith or conviction is at the
basis of all moral conduct--not simply of the scientific or artistic.
Interest in self must mean belief in one's business, conviction of its
legitimacy and worth, even prior to any sensible demonstration. Under
any circumstances, such demonstration can extend only to past action;
the social efficiency of any new end must be a matter of faith. Where
such faith is wanting, action becomes halting and character weak.
Forcible action fails, and its place is taken by a feeble idealism, of
vague longing for that which is not, or by a pessimistic and fruitless
discontent with things as they are--leading, in either case, to
neglect of actual and pressing duty. The basis of moral strength is
_limitation_, the resolve to be one's self only, and to be loyal to the
actual powers and surroundings of that self. The saying of Carlyle's
about doing the "duty that lies nearest", and of Goethe's that "America
is here or nowhere", both imply that faith in the existing moral
capacity and environment is the basis of conduct. All fruitful and
sound human endeavor roots in the conviction that there is something
absolutely worth while, something 'divine' in the demands imposed by
one's actual situation and powers. In the great moral heroes of the
world the conviction of the worth of their destiny, and of what they
were meant to do, has amounted to a kind of fatalism. They have done
not simply what they _could_ do, but what they _must_ do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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