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

A THEORY OF GOOD OR VALUE 421
account of so-and-so," is a loose one. There are,
it is
obvious, several ways of giving an account of a thing.
Broadly, however, they reduce themselves to one or other
of three. We can enumerate the thing's characteristics;
we can specify the conditions or circumstances which
produced it; or we can point to and describe its effects.
Thus to give an account of a civilization is to enumerate
the characteristics on account of which we consider our-
selves entitled to describe a community as civilized : that, for
example, its institutions are free and its laws humane;
that its cities are wealthy, its government respected, its
artistic output abundant in quantity and good in quality.
To give an account of a civilization is also to specify
the conditions in which it arose, pointing out, for example,
that it succeeded an era of continuous warfare ; that it
was ushered in by an increase of material prosperity; that
it depended upon a stable government and a contented
population; that it was the product of security
from fear.
and freedom
Thirdly, to give an account of a civilization is to speak
of its effect upon its members saying, for example, that
the level of their moral behaviour is high; that in manners
they are polished and urbane; that in religion they are
free from superstition; that in action they are just and
temperate; that they are prepared to tolerate those with
whom they disagree, and in matters where the truth is
not known, that they are willing to suspend their judgments.
Now when something of which we propose to give an
account is unique, it will be found that only the second and
third of these methods are open to us, the first being unavail-
able by reason of the fact that the characteristics of a thing
which is unique cannot be described without falsification.
They cannot, that is to say, be described in terms of
something else without being misdescribed. If they could,
they would not be unique.
Thus I can say that it is a characteristic of a father to
be a begetter of children, but how am I to describe the
characteristic of colour? I can say that colour is observed