The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and WrongBrentano, Franz
Philosophy
The Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong
Brentano, Franz
Ethics
In close connection with this appears to be the passage (_Nic. Eth._
i. 4) where he denies that there is any uniform notion of the good
(understanding, of course, the good in itself, cf. respecting this,
note 26, p. 77), thinking rather that only by way of analogy does
there exist a unity in the case of the good of rational thinking
and seeing, joy, etc., and when, in another passage (_Metaph._ Ε 4,
p. 1027 b. 25), he says that the true and the false are not in the
things, where the good and the bad are, i.e. the former predicates
(e.g. true God, false friend) are ascribed to the things only in
respect of certain mental acts, the true and false judgments, while
the latter, on the other hand, are not in a similar way ascribed to
them merely in respect of a certain class of mental activities:--all
of which, incorrect as it is, is still connected as a necessary result
with the aforesaid error. He is more in agreement with the true
doctrine of the origin of our notion and knowledge of the good, when
(_Nic. Ethics_, x. 2) he adduces as an argument against the assumption
that joy does not belong to the good, the fact that all desire it,
and adds: “For if only irrational beings desired it, the opposition
to this argument would still contain a certain justification; but if
every rational being also does so, how can anything be said against
it?” Yet even this utterance is reconcilable with his erroneous view.
Considered in this aspect, the moralist of sentiment
(Gefühls-moralist), Hume, has here the advantage of him, for Hume
rightly urges, how is any one to recognize that anything is to be
loved without experiencing the love?
I have said that the temptation into which Aristotle has fallen
appears quite conceivable. It arises from the fact that, along with
the experience of an emotion qualified as right there is given at the
same time the knowledge that the object itself is good. Thus it may
easily happen that the relation is then perverted and the love is
thought to follow as a consequence of the knowledge, and recognized as
right by reason of its agreement with this its rule.
It is not without interest to compare the error here made by Aristotle
in respect of emotion qualified as right with that which we have seen
was committed by Descartes in respect of the similarly qualified
judgment (cf. note 27, p. 78). The cases are essentially analogous; in
both cases the distinguishing mark is sought in the special character
of the idea which forms the basis of the act rather than in the act
itself qualified as right. In fact it seems to me evident from various
passages in his treatise _Des Passions_, that Descartes himself has
treated the matter in a way quite similar to that of Aristotle, and in
a manner essentially analogous to his doctrine of the self-evident
judgment.
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