GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

OBJECTIVE INTUITIONISM 197
the next chapter, 1 the possibility of free will turns upon the
answer that we give to it* It is plausible to suppose that
we are not responsible for our feelings, and if feeling alone
can motivate action, we are not, it would seem, responsible
for our actions. In endowing Conscience with authority
over action, Butler is thus taking sides on an important
controversial issue, for what, in effect, he is saying is that
Conscience has not merely the cognitive property of
recognizing what is right and what wrong, but also what
may be called an "inclining" property, the property,
that is to say, of being able strongly to incline or motivate
us to do what is recognized to be right. I say "strongly
to incline or motivate", since if we were absolutely obliged
to do what Conscience prescribed, there would be no
freedom and, therefore, no such thing as moral worth.
Conscience, Self-love, Benevolence all these pronounce
upon the desirability or otherwise of certain courses of
action, approving or disapproving according to their
lights; but while Self-love disapproves on the ground
that a particular action is imprudent, and Benevolence on
the ground that it is inimical to the happiness of others,
Conscience alone disapproves because it is wrong.
Butler's Hierarchy of Faculties. Butler arranges his
three principles in a hierarchy. Conscience is, as we have
seen, the supreme principle; whether, therefore, it does
or does not control the other two, it always ought to do so,
and in an ideal personality it always would do so. If
Self-love and Benevolence conflict, there is nothing in the
nature of either to give it authority over the other, but
Conscience is endowed with an over-riding authority, and,
if we will to invoke it, it will always answer our caH. We
can, that is to say, by means of Conscience, always check
over-indulgence in either cool Self-love or in Benevolence;
in cool Self-love on the ground that over-indulgence
is selfish, in Benevolence on the ground that we are being
tempted to neglect our own health and happiness, or even
1 See Chapter VII, pp. 267-1171.