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

A THEORY OF GOOD OR VALUE 445
white things, and a universal beauty to account for the
common quality possessed by all beautiful things, am I
not required by die logic of the argument to postulate a
universal value to account for the common quality
possessed by all those things that are recognized as being
valuable in and for themselves, that is to say, as being
absolutely valuable? I am not referring here merely to the
common quality possessed by all virtuous characters,
since, for this, I have already postulated the existence of
an absolute value, which I have called moral virtue; nor
am I referring to the common quality possessed by all
beautiful things, or by all true propositions, for which I
have postulated the existence of the absolute values,
beauty and truth. What is now in question is the common
quality possessed by moral virtue, by beauty and by truth,
the quality, by reason of their possession of which I have
been led to affirm that they are, indeed, absolute values;
and what the line of argument I have been following
demands is that I should now postulate a further universal
to account for the common quality possessed by these three
absolute values, moral virtue, beauty and truth, a universal
which must be denoted by some such expression as "value
as such". What, then, is "value as such"? We cannot say,
since, save perhaps in religious experience, we know
"value as such" only through its manifestations in moral
virtue, beauty, truth and happiness. Theology, however,
knows it as God, and speaks of truth, goodness and beauty
as the attributes of God, or the forms in which God is
manifested, or the-aspects under which He is made known
to man. At thi* point we reach the boundary of ethics and
enter the confines of religion, and beyond this point, there-
fore, I cannot go. It is sufficient for my present purpose
to draw attention to the need for some unifying universal
value, which is the source of the common quality possessed
by the absolute values, as they are the source of the common
qualities whether ofbeauty, of truth, or ofmoral virtue
possessed by the particulars in which they are manifested,
a need which has been acknowledged by all those who have