If not, either our definition
of morality, or our universal judgment as to what is moral, would seem
to be in error. Perhaps morality is, after all, off the track, and
to be discarded.
(1) We must first lay aside cases of perverted conscience, acts which
are "subjectively moral," or conscientious, but not objectively best.
These cases we have already glanced at; they need be no stumbling
block.
(2) We must remember that the types of conduct which we have glorified
by the concepts "virtue," "duty," etc, are those which TEND to produce
happiness. We have to frame our judgments and pigeonhole acts according
to their normal results. But it happens not infrequently that accidents
upset these natural tendencies. For these unforeseeable eventualities
the actor is not responsible; if his act was the best that could have
been planned, in consideration of all known factors, it remains the
ideal for future cases, it still retains the halo of "virtue" which
must attract others to it. Good acts may lead, by unexpected chance,
to evil consequences; bad acts may result, by some accident, in good.
But to the interfering factor belongs the credit or blame; the act
that would normally have led to good or to evil remains right or wrong.
To rescue a drowning man is right, for such action normally tends to
human welfare; if the rescued man turns out a great criminal, or escapes
this death to suffer a worse, the act of rescuing the drowning remains
a desirable and therefore moral act.
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