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

THE ETHICS OF SOCRATES AND PLATO 43
The Problem of Insight Consider, for example, the
problem of insight One of the commonest forms in which
it presents itself is that of conflicting claims. It happens
from time to time that two claims are made upon a man,
both of which are such as he is morally required to
recognize, both of which he does in fact recognize, but
which are, nevertheless, such that, if he yields, to the one
he is inevitably bound to ignore the other. People are
accustomed to cite a number of familiar stock cases to
illustrate this competition between conflicting claims.
There is the case of the man on a sinking ship who wonders
whether he should save his mother or his wife. There is
only one place left in the lifeboat, and it rests with him to
determine which of the two shall fill it; he ought to save
both, but he can only save one. There is the example of
the man in the burning house confronted with the problem
of whether to rescue a baby or a picture. The picture is
an old master whose aesthetic value is universally acclaimed.
Moreover, the baby can be replaced, but the picture
cannot. Nevertheless, the baby is alive and the claims of
human life, it may be said, are paramount. The problem
which confronts the Christian conscientious objector in
war-time is essentially of this order. He has a duty to the
State to which he owes not. only protection from violence,
but his education, his training, his upbringing, his tradi-
tions, in a word the whole of that environment, moral,
physical and spiritual which, as Plato would say, has
made him what he is. He also has a loyalty to a creed,
owning, he believes, supernatural authority, which bids
him not to take human life, however supposedly good the
cause.
In one form or another, this problem of conflicting
claims affords the theme of many of the world's greatest
tragedies. The typical tragic situation, as Aristotle has
pointed out, is not that of the weak man knowing the
right coune but tempted by avarice, lust or ambition to
embark upon the wrong. It is that of the strong man torn
by conflicting duties, or distracted by the pull* of com*