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

266 ETHICS
ing which is the better, I am, he says, "^determined to
either Alternative ". Professor Taylor proceeds to develop
St. Thomas's view as .follows: "When the comparison is
over and the estimate 4A is better than B* passed, this
indetermination ceases; my will is now determined, or to
speak in the more accurate terminology of our own psychology,
I am determined to take A and leave B, and what
I am determined by is this judgment of relative worth.
In other words, what is demanded as a minimum condition
of accountability is that I shall be able to make an impartial
estimate, correct or otherwise, of the two relative values.
It is not the case that whenever I attempt such a com-
parison some secret influence, the violence of a present
desire, the persistence of an old opinionativc prejudice,
the effects of my past habits, hereditary non-rational bias,
or what you please, tilts the scales of the balance. Of course,
we all know that all these sources of bias do exist and may
interfere with our estimates, but precisely because we are
aware of the feet, a prudent man sets himself to discover
these sources of prejudice and to eliminate them. Admit
simply that the elimination can Sometimes be achieved,
that sometimes at least we act as we do because we have
made an impartial comparative judgment about the rela-
tive value of two goods of which we cannot have both,
and in principle you have admitted all that clearheaded
libertarians mean by the 'freedom of the will'."
The passage I have quoted emphasizes the following
points:
(i) that we are usually biased in our choice of actions
by the factors upon which the various sciences lay stress;
(a) that, nevertheless, we can on occasion eliminate this
bias and impartially weigh the merits of the various
alternatives that present themselves;
(3) that, when we do so, that which induces us to choose
alternative A rather than alternative B is an impartial
estimate of their respective merits;
(4) that in making this estimate the will is free. It is of
cpune determined in one sense, determined by what it