The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and WrongBrentano, Franz
Philosophy
The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong
Brentano, Franz
Ethics
Thus, for example, the assertion of the truth of the judgment, “a man
is learned,” is the correlate of the assertion of the existence of
the object, “a learned man”; and the assertion of the truth of the
judgment, “no stone is alive,” is the correlate of the assertion of
the non-existence of its object, “a living stone.” The correlative
assertions are here, as everywhere, inseparable. The case is exactly
the same as in the assertions A > B and that B < A; that A is the
cause of B, and that B is produced by A.
[26] (_p. 16_). The notion of the good, in and for itself, is
accordingly a unity in the strict sense, and not, as Aristotle teaches
(in consequence of a confusion which we shall have to speak of later)
a unity in a merely analogous sense. German philosophers also have
failed to grasp the unity of the conception. This is the case with
Kant, and, quite recently, with Windelband. There is a defect in our
ordinary way of speaking which may prove very misleading to Germans
inasmuch as for the opposite of the term “good” there is no common
expression current, but this is designated now as “schlimm,” now
as “übel,” now as “böse,” now as “arg,” now as “abscheulich,” now
as “schlecht,” etc. It might very well, as in similar cases, come
to be thought that not only the common name is wanting, but also
the common notion. And if the notion is wanting on the one side of
the antithesis, it would also be wanting on the other, and so the
expression “good” would seem an equivocal term.
Of all the expressions quoted, it seems to me (and philologists
also, whose advice I have asked, are of the same opinion), that the
expression “schlecht,” like the Latin “malum,” is most applicable as
the opposite of the good in its full universality, and in this way I
shall allow myself to use this expression in what follows.
The fact that I adhere to the view of a certain common character
regarding the intentional relation of love and hate does not debar my
recognizing along with this view, special forms for particular cases.
If, therefore, “bad” is a truly universal simple class conception,
there may yet be distinguished special classes within its domain of
which one may be suitably termed “böse,” another “übel,” etc.
[27] (_p. 18_). The distinction between “self-evident” and “blind”
judgments is something too striking to have altogether escaped notice.
Even the sceptical Hume is very far from denying the distinction.
_Self-evidence_, according to him (_Enq. concerning Hum. Underst._
iv.) may be ascribed, on the one hand, to analytic judgments (to which
class belong also the axioms of mathematics and the mathematical
demonstrations), and, on the other hand, to certain impressions, but
not to the so-called truths of experience. Reason does not lead us
here, but rather habit, after a manner entirely irrational; belief, in
this case is _instinctive_ and _mechanical_ (_ib._ v.).
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