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

ETHICAL THEORY SURVEYED 389
since it is a tautology. Thus the sentence, "What is approved
of by me is what is approved of by me" cannot
mean the same as the sentence, "good is what is approved
of by me". Therefore, good does not mean the same as
what is approved of by me. By similar methods it can be
shown that the meaning of good cannot be exactly equated
with the meaning of any other word.
That the Subjectivist Methods of Meeting Objections
are Unsatisfactory. (i) HUME'S METHOD. Sub-
jectivists have endeavoured in various ways
to meet the
difficulties to which I have referred. Uneasy at the suggestion
that they are making the difference between good
and bad purely one of taste good is that which I happen
to approve of, if you happen to approve of something
different, then that is good for you; good, therefore,
means only "good for me" or "good for you" they
have endeavoured to modify the extreme subjectivist
position by the introduction of some objective test.
One such endeavour, that of Hume, was mentioned in
the last chapter. By a right action, Hume says, we mean
one of which most men approve. This is not a purely
subjectivist position, for it does not make the distinction
between right and wrong purely a matter of taste; it makes
of those
it a matter of fact. If, on this view, the majority
who consider an action X feel an emotion of approval
for it, then X is right; if not, not. This is to reduce the
difference between right and wrong to a question of
statistics: we decide the issue by counting heads. Now it
is, I think, clear that whatever may be the true account
of the matter, this theory must be wrong. What I mean
to assert, when I say of an action that it is
right, is no doubt
highly controversial; but I am perfectly
certain that ]
do not mean to assert that I believe that a bare majority
of those who consider it would be found to approve o;
it. I conclude that endeavours made on these lines tc
meet the objections brought against Subjectivism an
unsuccessful.