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Full Idea
Sin or moral turpitude doth not consist in the outward physical action or motion, but in the internal deviation of the will from the laws of reason and religion.
Clarification
'Turpitude' is wickedness
Gist of Idea
Immorality is not in the action, but in the deviation of the will from moral law
Source
George Berkeley (Three Dialogues of Hylas and Philonous [1713], III p.227)
Book Ref
Berkeley,George: 'The Principles of Human Knowledge etc.', ed/tr. Warnock,G.J. [Fontana 1962], p.227
A Reaction
A Kantian view (that the only good thing is a good will). It is a very empiricist (and anti-Greek) view to deny that actions have any intrinsic value.
168 | To understand morality requires a soul [Plato] |
5026 | Animals lack morality because they lack self-reflection [Leibniz] |
3954 | Immorality is not in the action, but in the deviation of the will from moral law [Berkeley] |
5599 | Without God, creation and free will, morality would be empty [Kant] |
21415 | Duty is impossible without prior moral feeling, conscience, love and self-respect [Kant] |
2902 | Healthy morality is dominated by an instinct for life [Nietzsche] |
20739 | Levinas took 'first philosophy' to begin with seeing the vulnerable faces of others [Levinas, by Aho] |
6450 | Morality must be motivating, and not because of pre-moral motives [Nagel] |
4284 | All moral life depends ultimately on piety, which is our recognition of our own dependence [Scruton] |