display all the ideas for this combination of texts
2 ideas
7844 | The Golden Rule is accepted everywhere, and gives a fixed target for morality [Voltaire] |
Full Idea: Pascal asks where we can find a fixed point in morality. The answer is in that single maxim accepted by all nations: "Do not do to others what you would not like to have done to you". | |
From: Francois-Marie Voltaire (Philosophical Letters from England [1733], 25) | |
A reaction: Should I only offer to my guests foods which I myself like? If I don't mind a bit of pain, is it all right to inflict it? It is a sensible rule, but not precise enough for philosophy. |
6032 | Right actions, once done, are those with a reasonable justification [Sext.Empiricus] |
Full Idea: Right action is whatever, once it has been done, has a reasonable justification. | |
From: Sextus Empiricus (Against the Professors (six books) [c.180], 7.158) | |
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. |