Single Idea 4173

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason]

Full Idea

If, as all philosophers imagine, the intellect is our actual nature and the will is arrived at through knowledge, then only the motive from which we imagined we were acting would decide our moral worth. Imagined and true motive would be indistinguishable.

Gist of Idea

If we were essentially intellect rather than will, our moral worth would depend on imagined motives

Source

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Idea [1819], II Supp)

Book Reference

Schopenhauer,Arthur: 'The World as Will and Idea', ed/tr. Berman,Jill and David [Everyman 1995], p.93


A Reaction

A nice argument. If motive is morally decisive, it is certainly crucial to decide between real and imagined motive (especially since Freud). But uncontrollable motive seems morally irrelevant.