第60章

　　Nor，Iconceive，canthisargumentbeevadedbyadoptingtheviewofwhatIhavecalled`&AElig；stheticIntuitionism’andregardingVirtuesasexcellencesofconductclearlydiscerniblebytrainedinsight，althoughtheirnaturedoesnotadmitofbeingstatedindefiniteformul&aelig；。Forournotionsofspecialvirtuesdonotreallybecomemoreindependentbybecomingmoreindefinite:theystillcontain，thoughperhapsmorelatently，thesamereferenceto`Good’or`Wellbeing’asanultimatestandard。Thisappearsclearlywhenweconsideranyvirtueinrelationtothecognatevice——oratleastnon-virtue——intowhichittendstopassoverwhenpushedtoanextremeorexhibitedunderinappropriateconditions。Forexample，CommonSensemayseemtoregardLiberality，Frugality，Courage，Placability，asintrinsicallydesirable:butwhenweconsidertheirrelationrespectivelytoProfusion，Meanness，Foolhardiness，Weakness，wefindthatCommonSensedrawsthelineineachcasenotbyimmediateintuition，butbyreferenceeithertosomedefinitemaximofduty，ortothegeneralnotionof`Good’orWellbeing:andsimilarlywhenweaskatwhatpointCandour，Generosity，Humilityceasetobevirtuesbybecoming`excessive’。Otherqualitiescommonlyadmired，suchasEnergy，Zeal，Self-control，Thoughtfulness，areobviouslyregardedasvirtuesonlywhentheyaredirectedtogoodends。Inshort，theonlyso-calledVirtueswhichcanbethoughttobeessentiallyandalwayssuch，andincapableofexcess，aresuchqualitiesasWisdom，UniversalBenevolence，andinasenseJustice；ofwhichthenotionsmanifestlyinvolvethisnotionofGood，supposedalreadydeterminate。

　　WisdomisinsightintoGoodandthemeanstoGood；Benevolenceisexhibitedinthepurposiveactionscalled``doingGood’’:JusticewhenregardedasessentiallyandalwaysaVirtueliesindistributingGoodorevil

　　impartiallyaccordingtorightrules。IfthenweareaskedwhatisthisGoodwhichitisexcellenttoknow，tobestowonothers，todistributeimpartially，itwouldbeobviouslyabsurdtoreplythatitisjustthisknowledge，thesebeneficentpurposes，thisimpartialdistribution。

　　Nor，again，canIperceivethatthisdifficultyisinanywaymetbyregardingVirtueasaqualityof``character’’ratherthanof``conduct’’，andexpressingthemorallawintheform，``Bethis’’，insteadoftheform``Dothis’’。[2]Fromapracticalpointofview，indeed，Ifullyrecognisetheimportanceofurgingthatmenshouldaimatanidealofcharacter，andconsideractioninitseffectsoncharacter。ButIcannotinferfromthisthatcharacteranditselements——faculties，habits，ordispositionsofanykind——aretheconstituentsofUltimateGood。Itseemstomethattheoppositeisimpliedintheveryconceptionofafacultyordisposition；itcanonlybedefinedasatendencytoactorfeelinacertainwayundercertainconditions；andsuchatendencyappearstomeclearlynotvaluableinitselfbutfortheactsandfeelingsinwhichittakeseffect，orfortheulteriorconsequencesofthese，——whichconsequences，again，cannotberegardedasUltimateGood，solongastheyaremerelyconceivedasmodificationsoffaculties，dispositions，etc。

　　When，therefore，Isaythateffectsoncharacterareimportant，itisasummarywayofsayingthatbythelawsofourmentalconstitutionthepresentactorfeelingisacausetendingtomodifyimportantlyouractsandfeelingsintheindefinitefuture:thecomparativelypermanentresultsupposedtobeproducedinthemindorsoul，beingatendencythatwillshowitselfinanindefinitenumberofparticularactsandfeelings，mayeasilybemoreimportant，inrelationtotheultimateend，thanasingleactorthetransientfeelingofasinglemoment:butitscomparativepermanenceappearstomenogroundforregardingitasitselfaconstituentofultimategood。