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Unexamined life is not worth living. -Socrates (Philosopher)
An unexamined life is nothing to worry about. - Jim Stiene (writer at
large)
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On Wed, 14 May 1997, George Sherwood wrote:
> _Distant prospect. - If only those actions are moral which are
> performed for the sake of another and only for his sake, as one definition
> has it, then there are no moral actions! If only those actions are moral
> which are performed out of freedom of will, as another definition says,
> then there are likewise no moral actions! - What is it then which is so
> _named_ and which in any event exists and wants explaining? It is the
> effects of certain intellectual mistakes. - And supposing one freed oneself
> from these errors, what would become of 'moral actions'? - By virtue of
> these errors we have hitherto accorded certain actions a higher value than
> they possess: we have segregated them from the 'egoistic' and 'unfree'
> actions. If we now realign them with the latter, as we shall have to do, we
> shall certainly _reduce_ their value (the value we feel they possess), and
> indeed shall do so to an unfair degree, because the 'egoistic' and 'unfree'
> actions were hitherto evaluated too low on account of their supposed
> profound and intrinsic difference. - Will they from then on be performed
> less often because they are now valued less highly? - Inevitably! At least
> for a good length of time, as long as the balance of value-feelings
> continues to be affected by the reaction of former errors! but our
> counter-reckoning is that we shall restore to men their goodwill towards
> the actions decried as egoistic and restore to these actions their _value -
> we shall deprive them of their bad conscience_! And since they have
> hitherto been by far the most frequent actions, and will continue to be so
> for all future time, we thus remove from the entire aspect of action and
> life its _evil appearance_! This is a very significant result! When man no
> longer regards himself as evil he ceases to be so!
>
> So, listers, my question is this: Is section 148 the concept of Beyond Good
> and Evil in a nutshell? I'm having trouble with this section and would
> appreciate any comments. It would seem that N is saying we are doing
> 'egoistic' and 'unfree' actions anyway, so why lie to ourselves about it?
> Am I wrong?
>
> George
> ____________
> George-- steppen@lightspeed.net
> Psst, hey, you interested in some common sense? Go to:
> <www.mcwilliams.com/books/aint/>
>
>
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