On the other hand, if one man
slanders another, with the result that the latter, refuting the
slander, thereby attains prominence and position, the act of slander,
normally harmful, remains an immoral act.
It is a failure to recognize this necessarily general character of
our moral judgments that raises the problem of Job. The ancient
Israelites saw clearly that righteousness was the road to happiness;
[Footnote: Cf. for example, "Righteousness tendeth to life; he that
pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death." "Blessed is every one
that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. Happy shalt thou be,
and it shall be well with thee."] and when a righteous man like Job
fell into misfortune, they accused him of secret sin. Job is conscious
of his innocence, of having done his part aright, and cannot understand
how he has come to such an evil pass. It would have brought him no
material alleviation, but it might have saved him some mental chafing,
to recognize that morality is simply doing our part. When we have done
our best we are still at the mercy of fortune. Happiness, as Aristotle
pointed out, is the result of two cooperating factors, morality and
good fortune. [Footnote: Nichomachean Ethics, book I, several places:
e.g, in chap. VII, "To constitute happiness there must be, as we have
said, complete virtue and fit external conditions."] If either is
lacking, evil will ensue. If all men were perfectly virtuous, we should
still be at the mercy of flood and lightning, poisonous snakes,
icebergs and fog at sea, a thousand forms of accident and disease,
old age and death.
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