] What is the justification of praise
and blame? Kant was expressing a familiar thought when he wrote that
a man deserved no praise for either instinctive or calculating acts.
Why should we praise a man for doing what he wants to do, what is the
most natural and easy thing for him to do, or what he can foresee will
bring about desirable consequences? Should we not praise only the man
who fights his inclinations, does right when he does not want to, and
without foresight of ultimate gain?
As a matter of fact, however, we do praise and admire and love the
saints who do right easily and graciously. We do not refuse our
admiration to Christ because it was his meat and drink, his deepest
joy, to do his Father's work; nor do we imagine him as having to
wrestle with inner devils of spitefulness and ill-temper. The type
of character we rate highest is that from which all these lower impulses
have been finally banished, the character that inevitably seeks the
pure and the good. And on the other hand, as we have just seen, we
often blame the man who, with the noblest intentions, and at great
cost to himself, does what we consider wrong.
It is thus true that our reactions of praise and blame are complicated
and inconsistent. We often praise a man and blame him at the same time;
praise him for following his conscience, and blame him for having a
narrow and distorted conscience to follow. Different people in a
community will praise or blame him according as they consider this
or that aspect of his conduct.
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