No,
its commands are categorical. The inescapable fact of "oughtness" is
the bottom fact upon which our ethics must be built. To the truth in
this manner of speech we must all respond. As we have seen, morality
is not purely subjective and relative; it carries the authority not
of opinion but of fact. The right, the best way, IS unconditionally
best, whether we are wise enough to desire it or no. The greatest good
IS the greatest good, however narrow or short- sighted our impulses.
Kant expresses eloquently the absolute and inescapable nature of duty
in its perennial opposition to our transitory and nickering desires.
(1) But Kant is unfair in his picturesque contrast between the
perplexities attending the pursuit of happiness and the certainty
attachable to morality. As a matter of observation, moral codes have
varied quite as much as man's different ways of finding happiness.
Cases of moral perplexity are as common as cases of uncertainty with
regard to the road to happiness; there is no such universality and
changelessness about morality as he assumes. If a certain code seems
fixed and indubitable to us, it is in large degree because we have
become accustomed to it and given it our allegiance; a wider
acquaintance with other codes, contemporary or past, would shake our
confidence. Some fundamental rules are unquestionable-rules against
murder, rape, etc.; but just as unquestionable is the fact that these
acts make against human happiness.
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