Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
greater intrinsic evil. The sacrifice of a good for no greater good
is asceticism or fanaticism. From this there is no ultimate salvation
but by referring all acts to the final touchstone--asking which will
produce in the end the greatest amount of intrinsic good and the least
intrinsic evil. What sort of conduct, then, is good? And how shall
we define virtue? We are brought thus to the conception of an art which
shall not only teach us which of two immediate, intrinsic, goods is
the better, but shall consider all the near and remote consequences
of acts, and direct us to that conduct which will produce most good
in the end. [Footnote: The impossibility of finding any other ultimate
basis for our conception of moral "good" or "bad" is well expressed
by Socrates in Plato's Protagoras (p. 354): "Then you think that pain
is an evil and pleasure is a good, and even pleasure you deem an evil,
when it robs you of greater pleasure than it gives, or causes pain
greater than the pleasure. If, however, you call pleasure an evil in
regard to some other end or standard, you will be able to show us that
standard. BUT YOU HAVE NONE TO SHOW... And have you not a similar way
of speaking about pain? You call pain a good when it takes away greater
pains than those which it has, or gives pleasures greater than the
pains." He then goes on to explain the need of morality,-to guide us,
in the face of the foreshortening effects of our particular situation,
to what will make for the greatest happiness in the long run (p. 356):
"Do not the same magnitudes appear larger to your sight when near,
and smaller when at a distance? Now suppose happiness to consist
in doing or choosing the greater, and in not doing or avoiding the
less, what would be the saving principle of human life? Would not the
ACT OF MEASURING be the saving principle?"] is best which will in the
long run bring into being the greatest possible amount of intrinsic
goodness and the least intrinsic evil. For goodness of conduct we
commonly use the term "virtue"; and for intrinsic good the most widely
accepted name-though one which is misleading to many is "happiness."
So we may say, in sum, that virtue is that manner of life that tends
to happiness. Objection is occasionally made that happiness is too
vague a term, too elusive a concept, to be set forth as the ultimate
aim of conduct. "Alas!" says Bradley, "the one question which no one
can answer is, what is happiness?" But this is a palpable confusion
of thought. If we mean by the question, "Wherein is happiness to be
found, by doing what can we attain it?" then the answer is, indeed,
uncertain in its completeness; it is precisely to answer it that we
study ethics. Or if we mean, "What is the psychology of happiness?"
the answer is as yet dubious; but it is irrelevant. Whatever its
psychological conditions and the means to attain it, we know happiness
when we have it. The puzzle is not to recognize it, but to get it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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