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

422
' ETHICS
when light rays of a certain wave-length and frequency
impinge upon the retina of an eye, which is connected
by a visual cord with a brain, which is part of a body
which is animated by a mind. In other words, I can say
(though the statement is ambiguous) that colour is caused
by light rays of a certain wave-length and frequency; but
this is to specify the circumstances in which colour is
observed or the conditions upon which colour supervenes.
It is, in other words, to give an account of colour by the
second method. Again, I can say that when in certain
conditions oflight a coloured object is placed in a particular
spatial relation to my line of vision, I shall have certain
sensations, for example the sensation of seeing red; but
this is to give an account of colour ia terms of its effects.
One of the effects of colour, I am now saying, is to produce
certain unique sensations in a human mind which is in
association with, or which animates, a body and a brain.
I am, that is to say, now giving an account of colour by
means of the third method. But if, having carefully ruled
out accounts in terms of predisposing conditions, circum-
stances and effects, I am asked what are the characteristics
of colour, I cannot think of any answer that I can give.
I know what colour is in the sense that I can recognize
it when I see it, but I cannot say anything about its
characteristics.
(3) Conclusion that Moral Virtue is Unique.
What is true of colour is, I am suggesting, true of value,
in any of the forms in which the human mind apprehends
it. Let me try to illustrate this generalization by reference
to that form of value which I have termed moral virtue.
Moral virtue, I am maintaining, is unique. Now, since
it is unique, it will elude any attempt to describe its char-
acteristics. Hence, when writers on ethics make the attempt,
it is found that the accounts that they are giving of moral
virtue, relate not to the characteristics of moral virtue, but
to the circumstances and conditions in which it appears
or to the effects which it produces. This generalization is