[lit-ideas] Re: Geary's Infallibility [short version]
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 20:56:57 -0700
JL wrote
"Every man should do his duty" is ETHICALLY tautologous.
I just wrote that I disagreed.
Here's why.
One of Cpl Oates' duties is to keep watch. One day he is relieved of
this duty. He no longer has it. He is free to go. Philosophers and
logicians do not wonder at this.
Cpl Ferrington has a duty ('he ought') to respect the rights of others.
His older brother, a debauched Oxonian, tells him that he no longer has
such a duty. When Ferrington asks why, his brother says, 'You just
don't.' 'But it's my moral duty,' says Oates. 'I can't just give it up
because you say I should; I always have it.'
In the first case, no moral duties or imperatives appear. In the second,
they do.
Robert Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Re: Geary's Infallibility [short version] - Robert Paul
