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

ETHICAL THEORY SURVEYED 387
relative to circumstances prevailing in myielf. In other
words, what I estimate the temperature of the room to
be will be determined by personal considerations. But this
fact does not show that the room does not possess a
temperature in its own right; nor does it show that, when -
I make my estimate of it, my estimate refers to nothing
at all. In other words, nobody would deduce from the
fact that I guessed the temperature of the room to be
75 Fahrenheit, while somebody else 70 Fahrenheit,
guessed it to be
that we were both of us making statements
about events that were taking place in ourselves
and were not in fact saying something about the room
and its temperature. Indeed, if the room had no temperature
in its own right, it would be difficult to understand
how we were ever led to make judgments about it.
Similarly, the fact that my judgments of right and good
are different from those of other people differently circum-
stanced, and the further fact that my judgments are
obviously determined by conditions of time and place
and country and class and culture, all of which are personal
conditions, do not justify the conclusion that, when I
say "X is right" or "X is good", I am in fact making
a statement about myself, and am not saying something,
whether true or false, about X and its ethical characteristics.
Indeed, if there were no such things as ethical characteristics,
it would be impossible to explain how we ever
came to make judgments which postulated them and
ascribed them to actions and persons.
(c) THAT IT is NOT POSSIBLE ON A SUBJECTIVIST
THEORY ADEQUATELY TO ACCOUNT FOR THE
EXISTENCE OF MORAL NOTIONS. This leads to a
further point If Subjectivism is correct, "X is good"'
means "X produces a feeling of approval in me", or
"X conduces to my advantage". It means, in fact, "X
is pleasant", or "X is expedient", or "X is useful".
But if "X is good", or "X is right" means the same
as "X is pleasant", or "X is expedient", or "X is useful",