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Full Idea
I cannot agree that a description of a patch of colour would be complete without the statement that it is beautiful (if that is so); for its beauty might be for some purposes the most important fact about it.
Gist of Idea
The beauty of a patch of colour might be the most important fact about it
Source
W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §IV)
Book Ref
Ross,W.David: 'The Right and the Good' [OUP 1930], p.120
A Reaction
'Important' to whom. To me the most important fact about my pen might be that it is mine, but that doesn't seem to be a feature of an intrinsic description of the pen. If beauty is a relational quality, Ross's point is undermined.
| 429 | To God (though not to humans) all things are beautiful and good and just [Heraclitus] |
| 5911 | Moral duties are as fundamental to the universe as the axioms of mathematics [Ross] |
| 5926 | The beauty of a patch of colour might be the most important fact about it [Ross] |
| 23683 | Moral norms are objective, connected to facts about human goods [Foot, by Hacker-Wright] |
| 22451 | All people need affection, cooperation, community and help in trouble [Foot] |
| 22392 | Morality is inescapable, in descriptive words such as 'dishonest', 'unjust' and 'uncharitable' [Foot] |
| 5355 | Cognitivists think morals are discovered by reason [Flanagan] |