Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Are Persons Bodies?', 'Twilight of the Idols' and 'The Right and the Good'

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4 ideas

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / c. Particularism
Prima facie duties rest self-evidently on particular circumstance [Ross]
     Full Idea: There is nothing arbitrary about the prima facie duties; each rests on a definite circumstance which cannot seriously be held to be without moral significance.
     From: W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §II)
     A reaction: He goes on to list the duties. Some of these duties will inevitably arise if we acknowledge both the rightness of keeping contracts, and the desirability of increasing general happiness.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage
Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: From the military school of life. - What does not kill me makes me stronger.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], Maxim 08)
     A reaction: The published version! Perhaps the most famous remark in all of Nietzsche, and no one realises it is ironic! It is a sarcastic remark about the battering ram mentality of the Prussian militarist! He had served in the army.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
Invalids are parasites [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: The invalid is a parasite on society.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], 8.36)
     A reaction: I'll skip the rest, but you get the idea. The point (with which I sympathise) is that life is primarily about what healthy people do. Something has gone wrong if all we do is worry about the sick and the suffering.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / h. Respect
People lose their rights if they do not respect the rights of others [Ross]
     Full Idea: The main element in any one's right to life or liberty or property is extinguished by his failure to respect the corresponding right in others.
     From: W. David Ross (The Right and the Good [1930], §II App II)
     A reaction: This obvious truth brings out the way in which rights are based on a contract (with the whole of a society) rather than being based on 'natural rights'. If ownership were totally communal, you couldn't introduce a 'right' to private property.