The Varieties of Goodness

by Georg Henrik Von. Wright. 222 pgs.

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publication details

Contributors:

Georg Henrik Von. Wright

Publisher:

Routledge & K. Paul

Place of Publication:

London

Publication Year:

1963

Subjects:

Ethics, Good And Evil

Table of contents

	CONTENTS
	PREFACE page	v
	I. THE VARIETIES OF GOODNESS
	The idea of the conceptual autonomy of morals -- a Kantian tradition in ethics. A philosophic understanding of morality must be based on a comprehensive study of the good in all its varieties	1
	The idea of a sharp distinction between is and ought and between fact and vatue -- a Humean tradition in ethics. Normative ethics and meta-ethics. Doubts as to whether the two can be sharply distinguished	2
	Our inquiry is conceptual. Remarks on the nature of conceptual investigations. Moral words in search of a meaning. The moral philosopher as a moulder of concepts. The importance of ethics to our orientation in the world as moral agents	4
	Division of ethically relevant concepts into three main groups, viz. value-concepts, normative concepts, and anthropological (psychological) concepts. Concepts between the groups. The narrow and the broad approach to ethics. The broad approach and the idea of a Philosophical Anthropology. The broad approach and a General Theory of Norms and Values	6
	The Varieties of Goodness. Illustration of the multiplicity of uses of the word 'good' by means of examples. Distinction of some principal forms of goodness	8
	The forms of goodness are not species of a generic good. Note on the concept of form	12
	The multiform nature of goodness is not due to an ambiguity of the word or a vagueness of the concept. The variety of forms of the good not a variety of analogical meanings. Is goodness a family-concept? The meaningpattern of 'good' as a problem for philosophical semantics	13
	Affinities between the forms of goodness. So-called moral goodness not an independent form of the good	17
	II. INSTRUMENTAL AND TECHNICAL GOODNESS
	Preliminary explanation of instrumental and technical goodness. The instrumentally or technically good thing is often, but not necessarily, good of its kind	19
	Instrumental goodness is primarily goodness for a purpose. Instrumental goodness of its kind presupposes an essential connexion between kind and purpose. Functional and morphological characteristics of kinds. The question of unity of the kind	20
	In the realm of instrumental goodness the opposite of 'good' is 'poor'. Difference between 'poor' and 'bad'. There is no instrumental badness	22
	'Good' and 'poor' connote contradictories rather than contraries. Poorness a privation	23
	Judgments of instrumental goodness or betterness are objectively true or false. The subjective setting of any such judgment. The notion of a good-making property. Vagueness and instrumental goodness	24
	Sentences expressing judgments of instrumental goodness have a descriptive content or sense. Why they should not be called 'descriptive sentences'. Distinction between the sense of a sentence and its use	30
	Instrumental goodness and commending. Why does goodness appeal?	30
	Instrumental goodness and preferential choice. Distinction between the real and the apparent good. A man necessarily prefers, with a view to a given purpose, the thing which he judges better for that purpose	31
	Technical goodness is primarily goodness at something. Technical goodness of its kind presupposes an essential connexion between kind and activity. Technical goodness is acquired and not innate	32
	In the realm of technical goodness the opposite of 'good' is called 'poor' or 'bad'. The opposition is between contradictories rather than contraries. Technical badness is a privative notion	34
	Tests of technical goodness. Competition and achievement tests. Tests by symptoms and by criteria. The technical goodness of professionals is secondary to instrumental goodness. Note on the creative arts. Goodness and greatness	35
	Technical goodness, commending, and praising. Technical goodness and keenness on activity. A man necessarily wants to practise an art on which he is keen as well as possible	39
	III. UTILITARIAN AND MEDICAL GOODNESS. THE BENEFICIAL AND THE HARMFUL. HEALTH AND ILLNESS
	Utilitarian goodness. The phrases 'be good for' and 'do good to', 'good to be' and 'good to have'. The beneficial
	Relations between instrumental and utilitarian goodness. Instrumental goodness as a degree of usefulness	43
	The opposites of the useful and the beneficial. The broad and the narrow sense of 'harmful'. Two senses of 'evil'	45
	Remarks on the logic of causal efficacy in the sphere of utilitarian goodness. The meanings of 'favourable' and 'adverse'	47
	Are judgments of utilitarian goodness objective? The axiological and the causal components of judgments of the beneficial and the harmful	48
	Which kind of being has a good? Good and life	50
	Medical goodness -- the goodness of organs and faculties. Relations to instrumental and technical goodness. Essential functions of a being. The concept of normalcy	51
	The tripartite division well-weak-ill and the bipartite division good-bad. Illness as basic notion. Weakness as potential illness. 'Good' means 'all right'. Note on aitia	54
	Pain and frustration logically constitutive of badness of organs. Badness and sub-normal performance	56
	Goodness of faculties. The social aspect of mental illness	58
11.	Are judgments of medical goodness objective?	60
12.	Health, illness, and the good of a being. The ethical significance of medical analogies (Plato)	61
	IV. THE HEDONIC GOOD
	Pleasure insufficiently discussed in literature. Distinction between passive and active pleasure and the pleasure of satisfaction	63
	Passive pleasure. The good-tasting apple as example. Primary and secondary hedonic judgments	65
	Criticism of the view that pleasantness is a sensible quality	67
	Pleasure and its contraries. The concept of pain	69
	Analysis of secondary hedonic judgments. An analogy to the emotive theory in ethics. Distinction between third and first person hedonic judgments. The first person judgments express valuations and lack truth-value. The third person judgments are about valuations. They are true or false -- but no value-judgments	71
	The logical form of primary hedonic judgments. How is mention of a valuating subject to be worked into the overt formulation of the value-judgment? The liking-relation	75
	Active pleasure. Liking to do and wanting to do	77
	Discussion of Psychological Hedonism. The doctrine misinterprets the necessary connexion between pleasure and satisfaction of desire as being a necessary connexion between desire and pleasure as its object	79
	Can a man desire the unpleasant?	84
	Remarks on Ethical Hedonism. Pleasure is not the sole good, but all forms of the good may have an intrinsic relationship to pleasure	84
	V. THE GOOD OF MAN
	Welfare the good of man. Distinction between welfare and happiness. Happiness the consummation of welfare	86
	Happiness, welfare, and ends of action. Discussion of the position of Aristotle. Refutation of Psychological Eudaimonism. A man can pursue his own happiness as ultimate end, and the happiness of others as an intermediate or an ultimate end of his action. Welfare only 'obliquely' an end of action. Welfare as ultimate end and beings as 'ends in themselves'	88
	Ideals of happiness. Happiness and passive pleasure. Criticism of Epicurean ideals. Happiness and contentedness. Criticism of ascetic ideals. Happiness and active pleasure	92
	The conditions of happiness. Happiness as conditioned by luck, internal disposition, and action	94
	The mutability and permanence of happiness. The analogical pairs: pleasant-unpleasant, glad-sad, happy-unhappy	96
	Analogy between eudaimonic and hedonic judgments. To be happy is to like one's circumstances of life	97
	First person judgments of happiness express valuations, third person judgments are true of false statements about the way men value their circumstances of life. Insincere first person judgments. Ultimately the subject is judge in his own case	99
	The causal component involved in judgments of welfare. Consequences and causal prerequisites of changes, which affect the good of man	101
	Things wanted and unwanted in themselves -- an analogue to the concept of intrinsic value	103
	Ends of action and things wanted in themselves both fall under the category 'goods'. How they are mutually related	104
	A good and its price. The constituents of a man's good determined. Things beneficial and harmful defined as the nuclei of the positive and negative constituents of a man's good. The concept of need	105
	Distinction between the apparent and the real good of a man. Judgments of welfare depend upon knowledge of causal connexions. The limitations of man's capacity of judging correctly in matters relating to his welfare	108
	The problem of the 'objectivity' of judgments concerning that which is good or bad for a man	110
	The notion of regret. Repeatable and non-repeatable choices, which are relevant to the good of man. The choice of a life. Note on akrasia	112
	VI. GOOD AND ACTION
	Technical goodness and 'good' as an attribute of actindividuals	114
	Instrumental goodness and acts. The notion of a 'way of doing' something. The conncxion between way of doing and thing done is intrinsic	115
	Utilitarian goodness and acts. The connexion between an act as means and an achievement as end is extrinsic	115
	The beneficial and the harmful as attributes of acts. The notion of doing good (bad, evil, harm) to some being	117
	The moral goodness and badness of acts is not an independent form of the good, but has to be accounted for in terms of the beneficial and the harmful. A sense in which moral goodness (badness) is 'absolute' and 'objective' -- the beneficial (harmful) again is 'relative' and 'subjective'	119
	On the possibility of judging of the overall beneficial or harmful nature of an act from the point of view of the good (welfare) of a community of men	120
	Criticism of a suggested definition of moral goodness and badness in terms of the beneficial and harmful nature of action. The moral quality of an act essentially depends upon the agent's intention in acting and his foreseeing of good and harm to others	121
	Intention. The relation between the intention in acting and the foreseeing of consequences. Foreseen consequences of action are not necessarily intended results of action. Distinction between the intentional and the not unintentional	123
	'Good' as an attribute of intentions. 'Good intention' and 'intention to do good'. The notion of the intended good (bad). Distinction between the factual and the axiological object of intention. The utilitarian value of good intcntions for the promotion of good	125
	A suggested definition of morally good and bad intention in acting and of morally good and bad acts	128
	The concept of unavoidable bad. Discussion of the conditions, under which an act, from which some bad is foreseen to follow, is not a morally bad act	130
	The good man. Instrumental, technical, and utilitarian goodness of men. Benevolence and malevolence as attributes of character. The good man and the virtuous man	133
	VII. VIRTUE
	Virtue -- a neglected topic in modern ethics	136
	Note on the words arete, virtus, and 'virtue'. The logical inhomogeneity of the concept. Distinction between the concept of virtue and the concept of a virtue. Here we are interested only in the second	137
	A virtue is neither an innate nor an acquired skill in any particular activity. Comparison between a virtue and a technical excellence or the goodness of a faculty	139
	Acts in accordance with a virtue do not form an actcategory. The genus of a virtue is neither that of disposition nor that of habit	141
	The genus of virtues is state of character. Comment on Aristotle's division into moral and intellectual virtues. Note on the concept of character	143
	Virtue is concerned with the choice of a right course of action in a particular situation, when the good of some being is at stake	145
	Virtuous choice the outcome of a contest between 'reason' and 'passion'. The virtuous man has learnt to conquer the obscuring effects of passion upon his practical judgment. Right choice in accordance with virtue is not necessarily the choice of a so-called virtuous act	146
	The problem of the unity of the virtues. The various virtues as so many forms of self-control. Note on sophrosyne	148
	How does one learn a virtue? In order to learn a virtue one must come to realize its usefulness. Virtue protects us from harm	149
	Divisions of the virtues. Ascetic virtues. Self-regarding and other-regarding virtues. A man will of necessity practise as much self-regarding virtue as he is capable of displaying; the extent to which he will practise otherregarding virtues depends on contingencies	152
	VIII. 'GOOD' AND 'MUST'
	Is there an intrinsic connexion between values and norms? The 'axiologist' and the 'deontologist' position. On the necessity of discussing the problem within the frame of a 'general theory' of norms and of values	155
	The three aspects of norms as commands, as rules, and as practical necessities. Their 'linguistic counterparts': imperative, deontic, and anankastic sentences	157
	Commands. Commands as efforts, on the part of a normauthority, to make norm-subjects do or forbear things. Promulgation and sanction essential aspects of norms as commands. Heteronomous and autonomous norms (commands)	158
	Technical norms -- Kant's hypothetical imperatives. Technical norms viewed as contracted forms of Practical Syllogisms. Note on the variety of Practical Syllogisms	160
	Means and ends. Necessary and productive means to an end. The probabilistic nature of means-end relationships	163
	Practical syllogisms and the explanation of action 'from without'	166
	Practical syllogisms and the explanation of action 'from within'. Practical necessitation. Note on 'reason' and 'passion' (Hume). Answer to the question, whether practical syllogisms are logically conclusive arguments	168
	Practical syllogisms and autonomous norms. Analogies between norms as practical necessities and norms as commands	171
	Heteronomous norms and practical necessities. The notion of a well-grounded norm. The necessity of obeying	174
	Practical necessities and the intrinsic connexion between norms and values	176
	IX. DUTY
	A norm, which is well-grounded relative to the good of some being, imposes a duty. Division of duties into autonomous and heteronomous, self-regarding and other-regarding, positive and negative duties. Negative other-regarding duties and rights	178
	Autonomous self-regarding duties. Two senses, in which a man can be said to care for his own good. Deliberation about ends. Self-protective self-prohibitions	179
	Autonomous other-regarding duties. Their relation to the other-regarding virtues. Love as an ultimate interest in the good of another being	182
	The problem of Egoism. Egoistic and altruistic action. The fallacy of psychological egoism. Comparison between egoism, eudaimonism, and hedonism. Is altruistic interest less natural to man than self-interest?	183
	Heteronomous self-regarding duties	186
	The notions of moral authority, moral command, and moral education. The relation of parents and children as example. The reasons and the justification of moral commanding	187
	Heteronomous other-regarding duties	190
	The possibility of commanding not founded on a recognized authority or right to command, but on superior strength of the commander over the commanded. Discussion of the concept of strength. Men are by nature approximate equals. Natural inequalities between men; adults and children as example. The twofold importance of the fact that men can co-operate. Co-operation can overrule natural and create artificial inequalities. The institutionalization of normative power	191
	X. JUSTICE
	Co-operation. What makes men co-operate? Autonomously necessitated co-operation for a common good	197
	Exchange of goods and services. Mutual advantage. The Golden Rule. How can respect of my neighbour's good be my duty?	199
	A basic inequality of goods in a community of men. 'It is better never to suffer harm than sometimes to do harm'. The notions of share, due, and parasitic action	202
	Revenge as 'natural punishment' of evil-doing. How men's self-interested pursuit of a common good may engender a practical necessity of adopting a practice, which is to the mutual advantage of them all	204
	Love of man. 'Pathological love' contrasted with 'love of thy neighbour as thyself'	205
	Survey of the general features of our derivation of the duty to abstain from evil. The Principle of Justice. Justice the corner-stone of morality. How action in accordance with the Principle of Justice may become moral duty. The inner and the outer way. Action from a moral motive and action inspired by a Christian love of man; the two are essentially the same	206
	Moral duties exist only within a moral community. The moral community determined by similarity of wants and needs and powers of men. The fiction of the super-man. Justice and mercy	211
	The utilitarian foundation of justice and morality. The two are necessarily of public utility, but their contraries may contingently be of private utility. Moral action is not autonomous self-regarding duty	214
	INDEX	217

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The Varieties of Goodness

by Georg Henrik Von. Wright. 222 pgs.

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