Subjective and Objective Morality.—Finally we may discuss the point at issue with reference to the supposed distinction between subjective and objective morality—an agent may be good and his act bad or vice-versa. Both of the schools which place moral quality either in attitude or in content, in motive or intent independently of each other, agree in making a distinction between the morality of an act and the morality of the agent—between objective and subjective morality.[133] Thus, as we have seen, Mill says the motive makes a difference in our moral estimate of its doer, even when it makes none in our judgment of his action. It is a common idea that certain acts are right no matter what the motive of the doer, even when done by one with a bad disposition in doing them. There can be no doubt that there is a serious difficulty in the facts themselves. Men actuated by a harsh and narrow desire for industrial power or for wealth produce social benefits, stimulate invention and progress, and raise the level of social life. Napoleon was doubtless moved by vanity and vainglory to an extent involving immense disregard of others' rights. And yet in jurisprudence, civil arrangements, and education he rendered immense social service. Again, the "conscientious man" is often guilty of bringing great evils upon society. His very conviction of his own rightness may only add to the intense vigor which he puts into his pernicious acts. Surely, we cannot approve the conduct, although we are not entitled morally to condemn the conscientious doer, who does "the best he knows"—or believes.
Moral Quality of Doer and Deed Proportionate.—If we rule out irrelevant considerations, we find that we never, without qualification, invert our moral judgments of doer and deed. So far as we regard Napoleon's actions as morally good (not merely as happening to effect certain desirable results) we give Napoleon credit for interest in bringing about those results, and in so far forth, call him good. Character, like conduct, is a highly complex thing. No human being is all good or all bad. Even if we were sure that Napoleon was an evil-minded man, our judgment is of him as evil upon the whole. Only if we suppose him to be bad and only bad all the time is there the opposition of evil character and good actions. We may believe that even in what Napoleon did in the way of legal and civic reform he was actuated by mixed motives—by vanity, love of greater, because more centralized, power, etc. But these interests in and of themselves could not have effected the results he accomplished. He must have had some insight into a better condition of affairs, and this insight evidences an interest in so far good. Moreover, so far as we judge Napoleon bad as to his character and motive in these acts, we are entitled to hold that the actions and also the outward results were also partially evil. That is, while to some extent, socially beneficial, they would have been still more so if Napoleon had been actuated by less self-centred considerations. If his character had been simpler, more sincere, more straightforward, then certain evil results, certain offsets to the good he accomplished, would not have occurred. The mixture of good and evil in the results and the mixture of good and evil in the motives are proportionate to each other. Such is the conclusion when we recognize the complexities of character and conduct, and do not allow ourselves to be imposed upon by a fictitious simplicity of analysis.
Summary.—The first quality which is the object of judgment primarily resides then in intention: in the consequences which are foreseen and desired. Ultimately it resides in that disposition or characteristics of a person which are responsible for his foreseeing and desiring just such consequences rather than others. The ground for judging an act on the basis of consequences not foreseen is that the powers of a man are not fixed, but capable of modification and redirection. It is only through taking into account in subsequent acts consequences of prior acts not intended in those prior acts that the agent learns the fuller significance of his own power and thus of himself. Every builder builds other than he knows, whether better or worse. In no case, can he foresee all the consequences of his acts.
In subsequent experience these results, mere by-products of the original volition, enter in. "Outer" and non-moral for the original act, they are within subsequent voluntary activity, because they influence desire and make foresight more accurate in detail and more extensive in range. This translation of consequences once wholly unforeseeable into consequences which have to be taken in account is at its maximum in the change of impulsive into intelligent action. But there is no act so intelligent that its actual consequences do not run beyond its foreseen ones, and thus necessitate a subsequent revision of intention. Thus the distinction of "inner" and "outer" is one involved in the growth of character and conduct. Only if character were not in process of change, only if conduct were a fixed because isolated thing, should we have that separation of the inner and the outer which underlies alike the Kantian and the utilitarian theories. In truth, there is no separation, but only a contrast of the different levels of desire and forethought of earlier and later activities. The great need of the moral agent is thus a character which will make him as open, as accessible as possible, to the recognition of the consequences of his behavior.
LITERATURE
On Conduct and Character in general, see Paulsen, System of Ethics, pp. 468-472; Mackenzie, Manual of Ethics, Book I., ch. iii.; Spencer, Principles of Ethics, Part I., chs. i.-viii.; Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, pp. 110-117, 152-159; Alexander, Moral Order and Progress, pp. 48-52; Stephen, Science of Ethics, ch. ii.; Mezes, Ethics, ch. iv.; Seth, Ethical Principles, ch. iii.
Upon Motive and Intention consult Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, chs. viii. and x.; James Mill, Analysis of Human Mind, Vol. II., chs. xxii. and xxv.; Austin, Jurisprudence, Vol. I., chs. xviii.-xx.; Green, Prolegomena, pp. 315-325; Alexander, Moral Order and Progress, pp. 36-47; Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, chs. viii., xi., and xiii.; Ritchie, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. IV., pp. 89-94, and 229-238, where farther references are given.
Upon Formal and Material (or subjective and objective) Rightness see Sidgwick, History of Ethics, p. 200; Rickaby, Moral Philosophy, p. 3, pp. 33-40; Bowne, Principles of Ethics, pp. 39-40; Brown, Philosophy of Mind, Vol. III., p. 489 and pp. 499-500; Paulsen, System of Ethics, pp. 227-233; Green, Prolegomena, pp. 317-323; Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, pp. 206-207.
FOOTNOTES:
[120] When Kant says that the coolness of a villain makes him "more dangerous and more abominable," it is suggested that it is more abominable because it is more dangerous—surely a statement of the value of will in terms of the results it tends to effect.