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Updated: May 10, 2025
Man must have a standard of his own. He listens to Nature only when she tells him what he already approves. As a form of intuitionism the doctrine of following.. nature may be criticised in much the same way as other forms. One great merit it has. It calls attention to the fact that ethics is a discipline which has no significance abstracted from the nature of man.
If intuitionism in all its forms is to be rejected, it seems as though it must be done upon some other ground than an appeal to evolution. As to the egoist. It is not easy to see how the appeal to evolution need disconcert him.
THE VALUE OF MORAL INTUITIONS. It would not be fair to close this chapter on intuitionism, an ethical theory competing with others for our approval, without emphasizing the value of the role played by the moral intuitions. They are the very guide of life, and without them our reasonings would be of little service. They should be treated gently, gratefully, with reverence.
We must grasp the underlying principles of right conduct, and weigh the relative goods attainable by each possible act. A well-balanced and normal conscience will save us the recurrent reasoning out of typical perplexities, but it must be supplemented by an insight into the ends to be aimed for and kept rather strictly in its place. What is the plausibility of moral intuitionism?
Perceptional Intuitionism ignores the fact that consciences may sometimes disagree, and that there may be a choice in consciences.
Their theories vary in detail and have received sundry names; we will group them here for convenience under the general caption "moral intuitionism." As a rule they steer clear of the historic point of view; they refuse to believe that conscience has a natural history.
Buddhistic morality, so reasonable and beautifully persuasive, rising so willingly to the ideal of sanctity, merits in comparison the profoundest respect. It is lifted as far above the crudities of intuitionism as the whisperings of an angel are above a schoolboy's code.
It appears absurd to say that man ought to do what it is not in man, under any conceivable circumstances, to do. And, like other forms of intuitionism, it has the merit of avoiding that short-circuiting which may easily prove seductive to the egoist or the utilitarian.
No sane man would maintain the general proposition that the consequences of acts should be wholly disregarded in determining whether they are or are not desirable. Thus, Perceptional Intuitionism gives place to what has been called Dogmatic Intuitionism to the doctrine that certain general moral rules can be immediately perceived to be valid.
It is not unnatural that some thoughtful intuitionists, dissatisfied with a considerable number of independent moral principles, should aim at a further simplification. Whether their doctrine may be called philosophical in a sense implying commendation is matter for discussion. ARGUMENTS FOR INTUITIONISM. What may be said in favor of intuitionism?
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