>>>Tell us where they are and how they are known"--by the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the ears, intuition?
Where do the ideals of virtue exist? How do I or we know about them?
I think we can agree that the ideals do not present themselves in the examples in our experience. So we don’t learn of them by being taught, or by observation. For example when have we ever seen an ideal form of ‘Justice’ presented? It would have to have been completely fair to all those effected by it, everyone’s needs for justice would have to be met absolutely, fairly, and simultaneously by the act of justice… or we could not label it ideal.
The ideals of virtues are representative of thought. We have an idea and we can measure the extent to which an action is virtuous according to circumstance and perspective. The idea of fairness is universal among human beings, whether taught in a university or experienced on a play ground. When you were 5 and told to line up for milk and a graham cracker, to take turns, no butting in line etcetera, you didn’t question the fairness because it made sense to you that this was a fair way to do things. When you were two and your twin got something you did not you cried and complained. The understanding was acquired through your innate ability to understand the concept.
So where does it exist? It exists as an innate sense within the human condition. It is such a common part of our experience that we cannot separate it out as something which has to be acquired from culture and learning. How do I or we know? We know because each and everyone of us has been aware of it from our earliest remembrance. Throughout our life time of experience we can attribute fairness to every aspect of human to human involvement. We do measure ‘Justice’ as it is represented the degree of variance for any such interaction. Things are more or less fair but never perfectly fair. You might say you could split your candy bar exactly in half and share it with me. Someone might question your exactness, someone else might ask why it is fair for me to take half your candy bar in the first place etc.
You might say ‘Justice’ is served when the convicted murderer goes to the gas chamber. Would the mother of the executed man, who still believes in his innocence, agree? Would the brother who felt the killed person deserved it agree? Does the family of the murder victim get back what they lost? We measure it differently but we do measure it and we all measure it against an ethereal ideal. In practical terms any action we label as Justice is mislabeled... because it is where we’ve chosen to mark our satisfaction with the lack of Justice against an ideal, which of course none of us believe is practically achievable, rather than where we’ve marked it as Justice. |
