more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
Right action is whatever, once it has been done, has a reasonable justification.
Gist of Idea
Right actions, once done, are those with a reasonable justification
Source
Sextus Empiricus (Against the Professors (six books) [c.180], 7.158)
Book Ref
'The Hellenistic Philosophers:Vol.1 translations', ed/tr. Long,A. /Sedley,D. [CUP 1987], p.451
A Reaction
Why does he add 'once it has been done'? Wouldn't a proposed action be right if it had a reasonable justification? This grows out of the classical and Stoic emphasis on reason in ethics, and leads towards Scanlon's Contractualism.
| 6020 | 'Man is a rational mortal animal' is equivalent to 'if something is a man, that thing is a rational mortal animal' [Sext.Empiricus] |
| 6032 | Right actions, once done, are those with a reasonable justification [Sext.Empiricus] |
| 1517 | The tektraktys (1+2+3+4=10) is the 'fount of ever-flowing nature' [Sext.Empiricus] |
| 6026 | How can you investigate without some preconception of your object? [Sext.Empiricus] |
| 6021 | It is only when we say a proposition that we speak truly or falsely [Sext.Empiricus] |