Monday March 1, 2004

Reading some Thomas Nagel for IHUM, and found some quotations I kinda liked, or at least found reason to think about.  Apologies to my dedicated readers of both upsaid and xanga for the repeated content….I’m just tryin to reach the whole audience ;-)

“A person may be greedy, envious, cowardly, cold, ungenerous, unkind, vain, or conceited, but behave perfectly by a monumental effort of will…Even if one controls the impulses [to act badly], one still has the vice.”

“Virtue is enjoined on everyone and therefore must in principle be possible for everyone.  It may be easier for some than for others, but it must be possible to achieve it by making the right choices, against whatever temperamental background.  One may want to have a generous spirit, or regret not having one, but it makes no sense to condemn oneself or anyone else for a quality which is not within in the control of the will.  Condemnation implies that you should not be like that, not just that it is unfortunate that you are.”

“There is a close connection between our feelings about ourselves and our feelings about others.  Guilt and indignation, shame and contempt, pride and admiration are internal and external sides of the same moral attitudes…About ourselves we feel pride, shame, guilt, remorse – and agent-regret.  We do not regard our actions and our characters merely as fortunate or unfortunate episodes – though they may also be that.”

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