The Philosophy of the Practical: Economic and EthicCroce, Benedetto
Philosophy
The Philosophy of the Practical: Economic and Ethic
Croce, Benedetto
Economics; Ethics; Will
Another aspect of the analogy is not less important. The
pseudo-concepts would not be possible, if reality did not offer the
like side by side with the unlike; which is not the universal and
necessary, but the general, a contingent (so to speak) less contingent
than others, a relatively constant variable. Pseudo-concepts are
arbitrary, not because they posit the like where is the unlike, but
because they make that variable rigid, which is only relatively
constant, making of it something absolutely constant and changing
the like into the identical. Now the practical spirit, which creates
reality, has need to create not only the unlike, but also the like; not
only that which lasts an instant, but also that which endures almost
unchanged for a year, a century, a millennium, or a millennium of
millenniums; not only the individual, but also the species, not only
the great man, but also the people, not only the actions that do not
occur again, but also those that return periodically, similar, though
not identical. Laws fulfil this function, for they constitute what
is called the _social,_ or _cosmic order._ This order, however, is
always relative and includes instability in itself; it is a rectilinear
figure, which, on being closely examined, reveals itself as also
curvilinear. For this reason it is necessary to make laws, and it is
necessary to violate, though obeying them in their execution.
[Sidenote: _Origin of the concept of plan or design._]
This function of law as an unreal volition, aiding nevertheless and
preparing the real, throws light upon a concept that we have had to
reject when exposing the nature and method of functioning of the
volitional act; that is to say, on the concept of _plan or design or
model,_ as proper to the practical activity, which is said to act by
carrying out a pre-established _design._ We have already demonstrated
that design and the execution of the design are in reality all one, and
that man acts by changing his design at every instant, because reality,
which is the basis of his action, changes. And as in the Philosophy
of the practical in general, so in particular in Ethic, the concept
of pre-established design has no place; because, if it be true than
in ethicity the universal is distinguished from the merely individual
action, it is also true that the universal does not exist in concrete,
save incorporated and individualized as this or that good action. The
universal of ethicity is not a design and cannot be willed for itself
outside all individuation, in the same way as to fall in love is to
fall in love with an individual and not with love. But that concept
of design, proposed for action and carried out by its means, though
erroneously adopted in Economy and in Ethic, must nevertheless have its
legitimate meaning in some special order of facts; otherwise it would
not be possible to make even erroneous use of it. This meaning is to be
found, as has been seen, in the fact of laws.
IV
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account