" [Footnote: Op. cit, sec. I.]
He goes on to show that wit, courage, perseverance, etc, are all
bad if the will that makes use of them is bad as in the case of a
criminal; while health, riches, honor, etc, may inspire pride or
presumption, and so not be unmitigated thing that can in every
case be called good.
But is this so? May not a man have good will and yet do much mischief?
If courage, wit, etc, need to be employed by good will, so does good
will need to be joined with common sense, knowledge, tact, and many
other helpers. Good will is good only if it is sanely and wisely
directed; else it may go with all sorts of fanaticism. If one says,
"It is still good qua good will," we may reply, "Yes, but so are all
goods; courage is always good qua courage, knowledge qua knowledge,"
etc. All harmless joys are good without qualification, and all goods
whatever are good except as they get in the way of some greater good
or lead to trouble.
(4) Kant's formula "good will" is ambiguous. OF COURSE a GOOD act of
will is good; that is a mere tautology, and gives us no guidance
whatever. Which acts of will ARE good is our problem. Kant, however,
worked out his empty formula into a concrete maxim, "Act as if the
maxim of thy action were to become by thy will a universal law of
nature." But how should we WISH others to act in the given situation?
It would be quite possible for a lustful man to be willing that
unrestrained lust should be the general rule; he would be much more
comfortable and freer if it were.
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