[lit-ideas] Re: Inner Moral :Law
- From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 14:11:42 -0400
The Greeks' view (including Aristotle and Plato) was that one did
wrong thinking, mistakenly, that some good would come out of that
wrongdoing. But here's Augustine saying he did wrong knowing that NO
good would come from it, yet doing it anyway.
__
Yet, if we take Augustine at his word, something good DID come out
of it, namely, he did develop his justification of Grace based on
the theft of the pears. So the Greeks were actually right after all.
On the other hand, if musical judgment were like moral judgment,
nobody would complain that the "fallen state of humanity is to be
noisy." Instead people would assert that musical judgment requires
some musical education.
Similarly, if verbal ability were like the ability to make moral
judgments, nobody would complain that the "fallen state of humanity
is to be nonverbal." Instead people would assert that verbal ability
requires some education in one's verbal culture.
Then there's the whole issue of what we could call "rascality." If a
young kid throws a rock through your window out of rascality that's
a lot different than a thug throwing a rock through your window
because you did not pay protection money.
The Greeks had more tolerance for rascality. The _Homeric Hymn to
Hermes_ shows the baby god stealing Apollo's cattle. But rascality
is allied with inventiveness--the baby god makes a lyre from a
tortoise shell and gives it to Apollo to make amends.
Eric
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