Journal of Philosophy, Inc.

Moral Saints
Author(s): Susan Wolf
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 79, No. 8 (Aug., 1982), pp. 419-439
Published by: Journal of Philosophy, Inc.
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 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
VOLUME LXXIX, NO. 8, AUGUST 1982

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MORAL SAINTS*
DON'T knowwhetherthereare anymoralsaints.But if there
are, I am glad thatneitherI nor those about whom I care most
are among them. By moral saint I mean a person whose every
action is as morally good as possible, a person, that is, who is as
morally worthyas can be. Though I shall in a momentacknowl-
edge the varietyof typesof person thatmightbe thoughtto satisfy
thisdescription,it seems to me thatnone of thesetypesserveas un-
equivocally compelling personal ideals. In other words, I believe
that moral perfection,in the sense of moral saintliness,does not
constitutea model of personal well-being towardwhich it would
be particularlyrational or good or desirable fora human being to
strive.
Outside thecontextof moral discussion, this will strikemanyas
an obvious point. But, within that context, the point, if it be
granted,will be granted with some discomfort.For within that
context it is generally assumed that one ought to be as morally
good as possible and that what limits thereare to morality'shold
on us are setby featuresof human natureof which we ought not to
be proud. If,as I believe,theideals thatare derivablefromcommon
sense and philosophically popular moral theoriesdo not support
theseassumptions, then somethinghas to change. Either we must
change our moral theoriesin ways thatwill make themyield more
palatable ideals, or, as I shall argue, we must change our concep-
tion of what is involvedin affirminga moral theory.
In this paper, I wish to examine the notion of a moral saint,
first,to understandwhat a moral saint would be like and whysuch
a being would be unattractive,and, second, to raise some questions
about the significanceof this paradoxical figurefor moral philo-

*I have benefitedfromthe commentsof many people who have heard or read an

earlier draftof this paper. I wish particularlyto thank Douglas MacLean, Robert
Nozick, Martha Nussbaum, and the SocietyforEthics and Legal Philosophy.

0022-362X/82/7908/0419$02.lI0 ? 1982 The Journalof Philosophy, Inc.

419

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420 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

sophy. I shall look firstat the model(s) of moral sainthood that

might be extrapolatedfromthe moralityor moralitiesof common
sense. Then I shall consider what relations these have to conclu-
sions thatcan be drawn fromutilitarianand Kantian moral theo-
ries. Finally, I shall speculate on the implications of theseconsid-
erationsformoral philosophy.
MORAL SAINTS AND COMMON SENSE
Consider firstwhat,pretheoretically, would count forus-contem-
porarymembersof Westernculture-as a moral saint. A necessary
condition of moral sainthood would be that one's life be domi-
nated by a commitmentto improvingthewelfareof othersor of so-
cietyas a whole. As to what role thiscommitmentmustplay in the
individual's motivationalsystem,two contrastingaccounts suggest
themselvesto me which mightequally be thoughtto qualifya per-
son formoral sainthood.
First,a moral saint mightbe someone whose concern forothers
plays the role thatis played in mostof our lives by moreselfish,or,
at any rate,less morallyworthyconcerns. For the moral saint, the
promotion of the welfare of others might play the role that is
played for most of us by the enjoymentof material comforts,the
opportunityto engage in the intellectualand physical activitiesof
our choice, and the love, respect,and companionship of people
whom we love, respect,and enjoy. The happiness of the moral
saint, then,would trulylie in the happiness of others,and so he
would devote himselfto othersgladly,and with a whole and open
heart.
On the other hand, a moral saint might be someone for whom
the basic ingredientsof happiness are not unlike those of most of
the restof us. What makes him a moral saint is ratherthathe pays
little or no attentionto his own happiness in light of the overrid-
ing importancehe gives to the widerconcernsof morality.In other
words, this person sacrificeshis own intereststo the interestsof
others,and feelsthe sacrificeas such.
Roughly, these two models may be distinguishedaccording to
whetherone thinksof the moral saint as being a saint out of love
or one thinksof the moral saint as being a saint out of duty (or
some other intellectual appreciation and recognition of moral
principles). We may referto the firstmodel as the model of the
Loving Saint; to the second, as the model of the Rational Saint.
The two models differconsiderablywith respectto the qualities
of the motives of the individuals who conformto them. But this
differencewould have limitedeffecton thesaints' respectivepublic

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 MORAL SAINTS 421

personalities. The shared content of what these individuals are

motivatedto be-namely, as morallygood as possible-would play
the dominant role in the determinationof their characters.Of
course, just as a varietyof large-scale projects,from tending the
sick to political campaigning, may be equally and maximallymor-
ally worthy,so a varietyof charactersare compatible with theideal
of moral sainthood. One moral saint may be more or less jovial,
more or less garrulous, more or less athletic than another. But,
above all, a moral saint must have and cultivate those qualities
which are apt to allow him to treatothersas justly and kindlyas
possible. He will have the standardmoral virtuesto a nonstandard
degree. He will be patient,considerate,even-tempered, hospitable,
charitablein thoughtas well as in deed. He will be veryreluctant
to make negativejudgmentsof otherpeople. He will be carefulnot
to favor some people over others on the basis of propertiesthey
could not help but have.
Perhaps what I have alreadysaid is enough to make some people
begin to regardtheabsence of moral saints in theirlives as a bless-
ing. For therecomes a point in the listing of virtuesthata moral
saint is likely to have where one mightnaturallybegin to wonder
whetherthe moral saint isn't, afterall, too good-if not too good
forhis own good, at least too good forhis own well-being.For the
moral virtues,given that theyare, by hypothesis,all presentin the
same individual,and to an extremedegree,are apt to crowdout the
nonmoral virtues,as well as many of the interestsand personal
characteristicsthatwe generallythinkcontributeto a healthy,well-
rounded,richlydeveloped character.
In otherwords,if the moral saint is devotingall his timeto feed-
ing the hungryor healing the sick or raising money for Oxfam,
then necessarilyhe is not reading Victorian novels, playing the
oboe, or improvinghis backhand. Although no one of theinterests
or tastesin the categorycontaining these latteractivitiescould be
claimed to be a necessaryelement in a life well lived, a life in
which none of these possible aspects of characterare developed
may seem to be a life strangelybarren.
The reasons whya moral saint cannot, in general,encourage the
discoveryand developmentof significantnonmoral interestsand
skills are not logical but practicalreasons. There are, in addition,a
class of nonmoral characteristicsthata moral saint cannot encour-
age in himselffor reasons that are not just practical. There is a
more substantialtensionbetweenhaving any of thesequalities un-
ashamedly and being a moral saint. These qualities might be de-

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422 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

scribedas going against the moral grain. For example, a cynical or

sarcasticwit, or a sense of humor thatappreciates this kind of wit
in others,requires thatone take an attitudeof resignationand pes-
simism toward the flaws and vices to be found in the world. A
moral saint, on the other hand, has reason to take an attitudein
opposition to this-he should tryto look for the best in people,
give them the benefitof the doubt as long as possible, tryto im-
prove regrettablesituationsas long as thereis any hope of success.
This suggeststhat,although a moral saint mightwell enjoy a good
episode of Father Knows Best, he may not in good conscience be
able to laugh at a Marx Brothersmovie or enjoy a play by George
BernardShaw.
An interestin somethinglike gourmetcooking will be, fordif-
ferentreasons, difficultfora moral saint to resteasy with. For it
seems to me that no plausible argument can justify the use of
human resourcesinvolved in producing a pate de canard en croute
against possible alternativebeneficentends to which theseresources
might be put. If thereis a justificationforthe institutionof haute
cuisine, it is one which restson thedecision not to justifyeveryac-
tivityagainst morallybeneficialalternatives,and this is a decision
a moral saint will nevermake. Presumably,an interestin high fash-
ion or interiordesign will faremuch the same, as will, verypossi-
bly, a cultivationof the finerartsas well.
A moral saint will have to be very,verynice. It is importantthat
he not be offensive.The worryis that,as a result,he will have to be
dull-wittedor humorlessor bland.
This worryis confirmedwhen we considerwhat sortsof charac-
ters,taken and refinedboth from life and fromfiction,typically
formour ideals. One would hope theywould be figureswho are
morally good-and by this I mean more than just not morally
bad-but one would hope, too, thattheyare not just morallygood,
but talented or accomplished or attractivein nonmoral ways as
well. We may make ideals out of athletes,scholars, artists-more
frivolously,out of cowboys, private eyes,and rock stars. We may
strivefor Katharine Hepburn's grace, Paul Newman's "cool"; we
are attracted to the high-spiritedpassionate nature of Natasha
Rostov; we admire the keen perceptivenessof Lambert Strether.
Though thereis certainlynothingimmoral about theideal charac-
tersor traitsI have in mind, theycannot be superimposedupon the
ideal of a moral saint. For although it is a part of many of these
ideals that the characters set high, and not merely acceptable,
moral standardsfor themselves,it is also essential to theirpower

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 MORAL SAINTS 423
and attractivenessthat the moral strengthsgo, so to speak, along-
side of specific,independentlyadmirable, nonmoral ground proj-
ects and dominant personal traits.
When one does finallyturnone's eyestowardlives thatare domi-
natedbyexplicitlymoral commitments,moreover,one findsoneself
relievedat thediscoveryof idiosyncrasiesor eccentricitiesnot quite
in line with the pictureof moral perfection.One preferstheblunt,
tactless,and opinionated BetsyTrotwood to the unfailinglykind
and patient Agnes Copperfield; one prefersthe mischievousness
and the sense of irony in Chesterton'sFather Brown to the inno-
cence and undiscriminatinglove of St. Francis.
It seems that,as we look in our ideals for people who achieve
nonmoral varietiesof personal excellence in conjunction with or
colored by some version of high moral tone, we look in our para-
gons of moral excellence for people whose moral achievements
occur in conjunction withor colored by some interestsor traitsthat
have low moral tone. In other words, thereseems to be a limit to
how much moralitywe can stand.
One mightsuspect thattheessence of theproblem is simply that
thereis a limit to how much of any single value, or any single type
of value, we can stand. Our objection thenwould not be specificto
a life in which one's dominant concernis morality,but would ap-
ply to any life that can be so completelycharacterizedby an ex-
traordinarilydominant concern. The objection in thatcase would
reduceto therecognitionthatsuch a lifeis incompatiblewithwell-
roundedness.If thatwere the objection, one could fairlyreplythat
well-roundednessis no more supreme a virtuethan the totalityof
moral virtuesembodied by the ideal it is being used to criticize.But
I think this misidentifiesthe objection. For the way in which a
concernformoralitymaydominatea life,or, more to thepoint, the
way in which it may dominate an ideal of life,is not easily imag-
ined by analogy to the dominance an aspiration to become an
Olympic swimmeror a concernpianist mighthave.
A person who is passionately committedto one of these latter
concernsmightdecide thather attachmentto it is strongenough to
be worth the sacrificeof her ability to maintain and pursue a sig-
nificantportion of what else life mightofferwhich a properdevo-
tion to her dominant passion would require. But a desire to be as
morallygood as possible is not likelyto take the formof one desire
among others which, because of its peculiar psychological
strength, requiresone to foregothepursuitof otherweakerand sep-
aratelyless demanding desires. Rather, the desire to be as morally

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424 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

good as possible is apt to have the characternot just of a stronger,

but of a higherdesire,which does not merelysuccessfullycompete
with one's other desires but which rather subsumes or demotes
them. The sacrificeof other interestsfor the interestin morality,
then,will have thecharacter,not of a choice, but of an imperative.
Moreover,thereis somethingodd about the idea of moralityit-
self,or moral goodness,servingas theobject of a dominantpassion
in the way thata moreconcreteand specificvision of a goal (even a
concretemoral goal) might be imagined to serve. Moralityitself
does not seem to be a suitable object of passion. Thus, when one
reflects,forexample, on the Loving Saint easily and gladly giving
up his fishingtripor his stereoor his hot fudgesundae at thedrop
of the moral hat, one is apt to wonder not at how much he loves
morality,but at how littlehe loves theseother things.One thinks
that,if he can give theseup so easily, he does not know what it is
to trulylove them.There seems,in otherwords,to be a kind of joy
which the Loving Saint, eitherby natureor by practice,is incapa-
ble of experiencing.The Rational Saint, on the otherhand, might
retain strong nonmoral and concrete desires-he simply denies
himselfthe opportunityto act on them. But this is no less troub-
ling. The Loving Saint one might suspect of missing a piece of
perceptual machinery,of being blind to some of what the world
has to offer.The Rational Saint, who sees it but foregoesit, one
suspects of having a differentproblem-a pathological fear of
damnation, perhaps, or an extremeformof self-hatredthat inter-
fereswith his ability to enjoy the enjoyable in life.
In otherwords,theideal of a lifeof moral sainthooddisturbsnot
simply because it is an ideal of a life in which moralityunduly
dominates. The normal person's directand specificdesiresforob-
jects, activities, and events that conflict with the attainmentof
moral perfectionare not simplysacrificedbut removed,suppressed,
or subsumed. The way in which morality,unlike other possible
goals, is apt to dominate is particularlydisturbing,forit seems to
require eitherthe lack or the denial of the existenceof an identifi-
able, personal self.
This distinctivelytroubling featureis not, I think, absolutely
unique to the ideal of the moral saint, as I have been using that
phrase. It is sharedby theconception of thepure aesthete,by a cer-
tain kind of religious ideal, and, somewhat paradoxically, by the
model of the thorough-going,self-consciousegoist. It is not a coin-
cidence that the ways of comprehendingthe world of which these
ideals are the extreme embodiments are sometimes described as

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 MORAL SAINTS 425

"moralities" themselves.At any rate, theycompete with what we

ordinarilymean by 'morality'.Nor is it a coincidence that these
ideals are naturallydescribedas fanatical. But it is easy to see that
theseothertypesof perfectioncannot serveas satisfactory personal
ideals; fortherealizationof theseideals would be straightforwardly
immoral. It may come as a surpriseto some thattheremay in addi-
tion be such a thingas a moral fanatic.
Some will object thatI am being unfairto "common-sensemoral-
ity"-that it does not reallyrequire a moral saint to be eithera dis-
gusting goody-goodyor an obsessive ascetic. Admittedly,thereis
no logical inconsistencybetweenhaving any of the personal char-
acteristicsI have mentionedand being a moral saint. It is not mor-
ally wrong to notice the faults and shortcomingsof othersor to
recognizeand appreciate nonmoral talentsand skills. Nor is it im-
moral to be an avid Celtics fan or to have a passion forcaviar or to
be an excellent cellist. With enough imagination, we can always
contrivea suitable historyand set of circumstancesthat will em-
brace such characteristicsin one or another specificfictionalstory
of a perfectmoral saint.
If one turnedonto the path of moral sainthood relativelylate in
life,one may have alreadydeveloped intereststhatcan be turnedto
moral purposes. It may be that a good golf game is just what is
needed to secure thatbig donation to Oxfam. Perhaps the cultiva-
tion of one's exceptional artistictalentwill turnout to be the way
one can make one's greatestcontributionto society.Furthermore,
one mightstumbleupon joys and skillsin theveryserviceof moral-
ity. If, because the children are shorta ninth player for the team,
one's generous offerto serve reveals a natural fielding arm or if
one's part in the campaign against nuclear power requiresaccept-
ing a lobbyist'sinvitation to lunch at Le Lion d'Or, thereis no
moral gain in denying the satisfactionone gets fronithese activi-
ties. The moral saint, then, may, by happy accident,find himself
with nonmoral virtues on which he can capitalize morally or
which make psychological demands to which he has no choice but
to attend.The point is that,fora moral saint, theexistenceof these
interestsand skills can be given at best the status of happy acci-
dents-they cannot be encouraged for theirown sakes as distinct,
independentaspects of the realizationof human good.
It must be rememberedthatfromthe factthat thereis a tension
between having any of these qualities and being a moral saint it
does not follow that having any of thesequalities is immoral. For
it is not part of common-sense moralitythat one ought to be a

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426 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

moral saint. Still, if someone just happened to want to be a moral

saint, he or she would not have or encourage thesequalities, and,
on the basis of our common-sensevalues, this counts as a reason
not to want to be a moral saint.
One might still wonder what kind of reason this is, and what
kind of conclusion this properlyallows us to draw. For the fact
thatthe models of moral saintsare unattractivedoes not necessarily
mean that theyare unsuitable ideals. Perhaps theyare unattractive
because theymake us feel uncomfortable-theyhighlightour own
weaknesses,vices, and flaws. If so, the fault lies not in the charac-
tersof the saints,but in those of our unsaintlyselves.
To be sure, some of the reasons behind the disaffectionwe feel
for the model of moral sainthood have to do with a reluctanceto
criticizeourselvesand a reluctanceto committingourselvesto try-
ing to give up activitiesand intereststhatwe heartilyenjoy. These
considerationsmightprovide an excuse forthe factthatwe are not
moral saints, but theydo not provide a basis forcriticizingsaint-
hood as a possible ideal. Since theseconsiderationsrelyon an ap-
peal to the egoistic,hedonisticside of our natures,to use themas a
basis forcriticizingthe ideal of the moral saint would be at best to
beg the question and at worst to glorifyfeaturesof ourselves that
ought to be condemned.
The fact that the moral saint would be withoutqualities which
we have and which, indeed, we like to have, does not in itselfpro-
vide reason to condemn the ideal of the moral saint. The factthat
some of thesequalities are good qualities, however,and that they
are qualities we ought to like, does provide reason to discourage
thisideal and to offerotherideals in its place. In otherwords,some
of the qualities the moral saint necessarilylacks are virtues,albeit
nonmoral virtues,in the unsaintlycharacterswho have them.The
feats of Groucho Marx, Reggie Jackson, and the head chef at
Lutece are impressiveaccomplishmentsthatit is not only permissi-
ble but positivelyappropriate to recognizeas such. In general, the
admiration of and strivingtowardachieving any of a greatvariety
of formsof personal excellence are charactertraitsit is valuable
and desirable forpeople to have. In advocating thedevelopmentof
thesevarietiesof excellence,we advocate nonmoral reasons foract-
ing, and in thinking that it is good for a person to strivefor an
ideal that gives a substantial role to the interestsand values that
correspond to these virtues,we implicitlyacknowledge the good-
ness of ideals incompatible with thatof the moral saint. Finally, if
we thinkthatit is as good, or even betterfora person to strivefor
one of theseideals than it is forhim or her to striveforand realize

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 MORAL SAINTS 427
the ideal of the moral saint, we expressa conviction thatit is good
not to be a moral saint.
MORAL SAINTS AND MORAL THEORIES
I have triedso far to paint a picture-or, rather,two pictures-of
what a moral saint mightbe like, drawing on what I take to be the
attitudes and beliefs about morality prevalent in contemporary,
common-sense thought. To my suggestion that common-sense
moralitygeneratesconceptionsof moral saints thatare unattractive
or otherwise unacceptable, it is open to someone to reply, "so
much the worse forcommon-sensemorality."Afterall, it is often
claimed that the goal of moral philosophy is to correctand im-
prove upon common-sensemorality,and I have as yetgiven no at-
tentionto the question of what conceptionsof moral sainthood,if
any, are generatedfromthe leading moral theoriesof our time.
A quick, breezyreading of utilitarianand Kantian writingswill
suggest the images, respectively,of the Loving Saint and the Ra-
tional Saint. A utilitarian,with his emphasis on happiness, will
certainlyprefertheLoving Saint to theRational one, since theLov-
ing Saint will himselfbe a happier person than the Rational Saint.
A Kantian, with his emphasis on reason, on the other hand, will
find at least as much to praise in the latteras in the former.Still,
both models, drawn as theyare fromcommon sense, appeal to an
impure mixtureof utilitarianand Kantian intuitions.A morecare-
ful examination of these moral theories raises questions about
whethereithermodel of moral sainthood would reallybe advocated
by a believerin theexplicit doctrinesassociated witheitherof these
views.
Certainly,the utilitarianin no way denies thevalue of self-reali-
zation. He in no way disparages the developmentof interests,tal-
ents, and other personally attractivetraitsthat I have claimed the
moral saint would be without. Indeed, since just thesefeaturesen-
hance the happiness both of the individuals who possess themand
of those with whom theyassociate, theabilityto promotethesefea-
turesboth in oneselfand in otherswill have considerablepositive
weightin utilitariancalculations.
This implies thatthe utilitarianwould not support moral saint-
hood as a universal ideal. A world in which everyone,or even a
large number of people, achieved moral sainthood-even a world
in which theystrove to achieve it-would probably contain less
happiness than a world in which people realized a diversityof
ideals involving a varietyof personal and perfectionistvalues.
More pragmaticconsiderationsalso suggest that,if the utilitarian
wants to influence more people to achieve more good, then he

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428 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

would do betterto encourage themto pursue happiness-producing

goals that are more attractiveand more within a normal person's
reach.
These considerationsstill leave open, however,the question of
what kind of an ideal the committedutilitarian should privately
aspire to himself.Utilitarianismrequires him to want to achieve
thegreatestgeneralhappiness, and thiswould seem to commithim
to the ideal of the moral saint.
One might tryto use the claims I made earlier as a basis foran
argument that a utilitarianshould choose to give up utilitarian-
ism. If, as I have said, a moral saint would be a less happy person
both to be and to be around than many otherpossible ideals, per-
haps one could createmore total happiness by not tryingtoo hard
to promote the total happiness. But this argumentis simply un-
convincing in light of the empirical circumstancesof our world.
The gain in happiness that would accrue to oneself and one's
neighbors by a more well-rounded, richer life than that of the
moral saint would be pathetically small in comparison to the
amount by which one could increase the general happiness if one
devotedoneselfexplicitlyto the care of the sick, the downtrodden,
the starving,and thehomeless. Of course,theremay be psychologi-
cal limits to the extent to which a person can devote himselfto
such things without going crazy. But the utilitarian's individual
limitationswould not therebybecome a positive featureof his per-
sonal ideals.
The unattractiveness of the moral saint, then,ought not ration-
ally convince the utilitarianto abandon his utilitarianism.It may,
however,convincehim to takeeffortsnot to wear his saintlymoral
aspirations on his sleeve. If it is not too difficult,the utilitarian
will trynot to make thosearound him uncomfortable.He will not
want to appear "holier than thou"; he will not want to inhibit
others'abilityto enjoy themselves.In practice,thismightmake the
perfectutilitarian a less nauseating companion than the moral
saint I earlierportrayed.But insofaras this kind of reasoningpro-
duces a more bearable public personality,it is at thecost of giving
him a personalitythat must be evaluated as hypocriticaland con-
descending when his privatethoughtsand attitudesare taken into
account.
Still, the criticismsI have raised against the saint of common-
sense morality should make some differenceto the utilitarian's
conception of an ideal which neitherrequireshim to abandon his
utilitarianprinciples nor forceshim to fakean interesthe does not

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 MORAL SAINTS 429
have or a judgment he does not make. For it may be thata limited
and carefullymonitoredallotmentof timeand energyto be devoted
to the pursuitof some nonmoral interestsor to the developmentof
some nonmoral talentswould make a persona bettercontributorto
the general welfarethan he would be if he allowed himselfno in-
dulgences of this sort.The enjoymentof such activitiesin no way
compromisesa commitmentto utilitarianprinciplesas long as the
involvementwith theseactivitiesis conditionedby a willingnessto
give themup wheneverit is recognizedthat theycease to be in the
general interest.
This will go some way in mitigatingthe picture of the loving
saint thatan understandingof utilitarianismwill on firstimpres-
sion suggest.But I thinkit will not go veryfar.For thelimitations
on time and energywill have to be rathersevere,and the need to
monitor will restrictnot only the extent but also the quality of
one's attachmentto these interestsand traits.They are only weak
and somewhat peculiar sorts of passions to which one can con-
sciously remain so conditionallycommitted.Moreover,the way in
which the utilitariancan enjoy these "extra-curricular"aspects of
his life is simply not the way in which theseaspects are to be en-
joyed insofaras theyfigureinto our less saintlyideals.
The problem is not exactly that the utilitarianvalues these as-
pects of his life only as a means to an end, for the enjoymenthe
and othersget fromtheseaspects are not a means to, but a part of,
the general happiness. Nonetheless,he values thesethingsonly be-
cause of and insofaras theyare a part of the generalhappiness. He
values them,as it were,under thedescription'a contributionto the
general happiness'. This is to be contrastedwith the various ways
in which theseaspects of life may be valued by nonutilitarians.A
person mightlove literaturebecause of theinsightsinto human na-
tureliteratureaffords.Anothermight love the cultivationof roses
because rosesare thingsof greatbeautyand delicacy.It may be true
thatthesefeaturesof therespectiveactivitiesalso explain why these
activitiesare happiness-producing.But, to the nonutilitarian,this
may not be to the point. For if one values theseactivitiesin these
more direct ways, one may not be willing to exchange them for
others that produce an equal, or even a greateramount of happi-
ness. From thatpoint of view, it is not because theyproduce happi-
ness that theseactivitiesare valuable; it is because theseactivities
are valuable in more direct and specific ways that theyproduce
happiness.
To adopt a phrase of BernardWilliams', the utilitarian'smanner

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430 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

of valuing the not explicitly moral aspects of his life "provides

(him) withone thoughttoo many".' The requirementthattheutili-
tarianhave this thought-periodically,at least-is indicativeof not
only a weakness but a shallowness in his appreciation of the as-
pects in question. Thus, the ideals toward which a utilitarian
could acceptablystrivewould remain too close to the model of the
common-sensemoral saint to escape the criticismsof that model
which I earlier suggested. Whethera Kantian would be similarly
committed to so restrictiveand unattractivea range of possible
ideals is a somewhatmore difficultquestion.
The Kantian believes that being morally worthyconsists in al-
ways acting frommaxims thatone could will to be universal law,
and doing this not out of any pathological desire but out of rever-
ence for the moral law as such. Or, to take a different
formulation
of the categorical imperative,the Kantian believes that moral ac-
tion consists in treatingotherpersons always as ends and neveras
means only. Presumably,and according to Kant himself,the Kan-
tian therebycommitshimselfto some degreeof benevolenceas well
as to the rules of fairplay. But we surelywould not will thatevery
person become a moral saint,and treatingothersas ends hardlyre-
quires bending over backwardsto protectand promote theirinter-
ests. On one interpretation of Kantian doctrine,then,moral perfec-
tion would be achieved simply by unerringobedience to a limited
set of side-constraints.On this interpretation,Kantian theory
simply does not yield an ideal conception of a person of any full-
ness comparable to that of the moral saints I have so far been
portraying.
On the otherhand, Kant does say explicitlythatwe have a duty
of benevolence, a duty not only to allow others to pursue their
ends, but to take up theirends as our own. In addition, we have
positiveduties to ourselves,duties to increaseour naturalas well as
our moral perfection.These duties are unlimited in the degree to
which theymay dominate a life. If action in accordance with and
motivatedby the thoughtof theseduties is consideredvirtuous,it is
natural to assume that the more one performssuch actions, the
more virtuousone is. Moreover,of virtuein general Kant says, "it
is an ideal which is unattainablewhile yetour dutyis constantlyto
approximate to it".2 On this interpretation,then, the Kantian

'"Persons, Characterand Morality"in Amelie Rorty,ed., The Identitiesof Persons

(Berkeley:Univ. of California Press, 1976), p. 214.
2Immanuel Kant, The Doctrine of Virtue, Mary J. Gregor, trans. (New York:
Harper & Row, 1964),p. 71.

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 MORAL SAINTS 431
moral saint, like the othermoral saints I have been considering,is
dominated by the motivationto be moral.
Which of these interpretationsof Kant one preferswill depend
on the interpretationand the importanceone gives to the role of
the imperfectduties in Kant's over-all system.Rather than choose
betweenthemhere,I shall considereach brieflyin turn.
On the second interpretation of Kant, the Kantian moral saint is,
not surprisingly,subject to many of the same objections I have
been raising against other versions of moral sainthood. Though
the Kantian saint may differfromthe utilitariansaint as to which
actions he is bound to performand which he is bound to refrain
fromperforming,I suspect thattherange of activitiesacceptable to
the Kantian saint will remain objectionably restrictive.Moreover,
the manner in which the Kantian saint must thinkabout and jus-
tifythe activitieshe pursues and the charactertraitshe develops
will strikeus, as it did with the utilitarian saint, as containing
"one thoughttoo many." As the utilitariancould value his activi-
ties and charactertraitsonly insofaras theyfell under the descrip-
tion of 'contributionsto thegeneral happiness', the Kantian would
have to value his activitiesand charactertraitsinsofaras theywere
manifestationsof respectforthe moral law. If the developmentof
our powers to achieve physical, intellectual,or artisticexcellence,
or the activitiesdirectedtoward making othershappy are to have
any moral worth,theymust arise froma reverenceforthe dignity
thatmembersof our species have as a resultof being endowed with
pure practical reason. This is a good and noble motivation,to be
sure. But it is hardlywhat one expects to be dominantlybehind a
person's aspirations to dance as well as Fred Astaire,to paint as
well as Picasso, or to solve some outstandingproblem in abstract
algebra, and it is hardlywhat one hopes to find lying dominantly
behind a father'saction on behalf of his son or a lover's on behalf
of her beloved.
Since the basic problem with any of the models of moral saint-
hood we have been consideringis thattheyare dominatedby a sin-
gle, all-importantvalue underwhich all otherpossible values must
be subsumed, it may seem that the alternativeinterpretationof
Kant, as providinga stringentbut finiteset of obligations and con-
straints,might provide a more acceptable morality.According to
this interpretationof Kant, one is as morally good as can be so
long as one devotessome limited portion of one's energiestoward
altruism and the maintenance of one's physical and spiritual
health,and otherwisepursues one's independentlymotivatedinter-
ests and values in such a way as to avoid oversteppingcertain

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432 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

bounds. Certainly,if it be a requirementof an acceptable moral

theorythat perfectobedience to its laws and maximal devotion to
its interestsand concerns be something we can wholeheartedly
striveforin ourselvesand wish forin thosearound us, it will count
in favorof this brand of Kantianism thatits commands can be ful-
filled without swallowing up the perfectmoral agent's entire
personality.
Even this more limitedunderstandingof morality,if its connec-
tion to Kant's views is to be taken at all seriously,is not likely to
give an unqualified seal of approval to the nonmorally directed
ideals I have been advocating. For Kant is explicit about what he
calls "duties of apathy and self-mastery" (69/70)-duties to ensure
that our passions are never so strong as to interferewith calm,
practical deliberation,or so deep as to wrestcontrolfromthe more
disinterested,rational part of ourselves. The tight and self-con-
scious rein we are thus obliged to keep on our commitmentsto
specificindividuals and causes will doubtless restrictour value in
these things,assigning thema necessarilyattenuatedplace.
A more interestingobjection to this brand of Kantianism,how-
ever,comes when we consider the implications of placing the kind
of upper bound on moral worthinesswhich seemed to count in
favor of this conception of morality.For to put such a limit on
one's capacity to be moral is effectively to deny,not just the moral
necessity, but the moral goodness of a devotion to benevolenceand
the maintenance of justice that passes beyond a certain,required
point. It is to deny the possibility of going morally above and
beyond the call of a restrictedset of duties. Despite my claim that
all-consuming moral saintliness is not a particularlyhealthyand
desirable ideal, it seems perverseto insistthat,weremoral saints to
exist, theywould not, in theirway, be remarkablynoble and ad-
mirable figures.Despite my conviction thatit is as rational and as
good fora person to take KatharineHepburn or Jane Austenas her
role model instead of MotherTheresa, it would be absurd to deny
that MotherTheresa is a morallybetterperson.
I can thinkof two ways of viewing moralityas having an upper
bound. First,we can think that altruism and impartialityare in-
deed positive moral interests,but that theyare moral only if the
degree to which theseinterestsare activelypursued remainswithin
certainfixedlimits. Second, we can thinkthat thesepositiveinter-
ests are only incidentallyrelatedto moralityand thattheessenceof
moralitylies elsewhere,in, say,an implicitsocial contractor in the
recognitionof our own dignifiedrationality.Accordingto thefirst
conception of morality,thereis a cut-offline to the amount of al-

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 MORAL SAINTS 433

truismor to the extentof devotion to justice and fairnessthat is

worthyof moral praise. But to draw this line earlier than the line
that brings the altruistin question into a worse-offposition than
all those to whom he devoteshimselfseems unacceptablyartificial
and gratuitous.Accordingto the second conception,thesepositive
interestsare not essentiallyrelated to moralityat all. But then we
are unable to regarda moreaffectionateand generousexpressionof
good will toward othersas a natural and reasonable extension of
morality,and we encourage a cold and unduly self-centered ap-
proach to the developmentand evaluation of our motivationsand
concerns.
A moral theorythatdoes not contain the seeds of an all-consum-
ing ideal of moral sainthood thus seems to place falseand unnatu-
ral limits on our opportunityto do moral good and our potential
to deserve moral praise. Yet the main thrustof the argumentsof
this paper has been leading to the conclusion that, when such
ideals are present,theyare not ideals to which it is particularly
reasonable or healthy or desirable for human beings to aspire.
These claims, taken together,have the appearance of a dilemma
fromwhich thereis no obvious escape. In a moment,I shall argue
that,despiteappearances, theseclaims should not be understoodas
constitutinga dilemma. But, beforeI do, let me brieflydescribe
anotherpath which those who are convincedby myabove remarks
may feel inclined to take.
If the above remarksare understood to be implicitlycritical of
the views on the content of moralitywhich seem most popular
today,an alternativethat naturallysuggestsitselfis thatwe revise
our views about the contentof morality.More specifically,my re-
marksmay be taken to supporta more Aristotelian,or even a more
Nietzschean,approach to moral philosophy. Such a change in ap-
proach involvessubstantiallybroadeningor replacingour contem-
porary intuitions about which character traits constitutemoral
virtuesand vices and which interestsconstitutemoral interests.If,
forexample, we include personal bearing,or creativity, or sense of
style,as featuresthatcontributeto one's moral personality,thenwe
can createmoral ideals which are incompatiblewith and probably
more attractivethan the Kantian and utilitarianideals I have dis-
cussed. Given such an alterationof our conceptionof morality,the
figureswith which I have been concerned above might,far from
being consideredto be moral saints, be seen as morallyinferiorto
othermore appealing or more interestingmodels of individuals.
This approach seems unlikelyto succeed,if forno otherreason,
because it is doubtfulthatany single,or even any reasonablysmall

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434 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

numberof substantialpersonal ideals could capture the full range

of possible ways of realizing human potential or achieving human
good which deserveencouragementand praise. Even if we could
provide a sufficiently broad characterizationof the range of posi-
tive ways for human beings to live, however, I think there are
strongreasons not to want to incorporatesuch a characterization
more centrallyinto theframeworkof moralityitself.For, in claim-
ing that a charactertraitor activityis morally good, one claims
thatthereis a certainkind of reason fordeveloping thattraitor en-
gaging in that activity.Yet, lying behind our criticismof more
conventional conceptions of moral sainthood, thereseems to be a
recognitionthatamong theimmenselyvaluable traitsand activities
that a human life mightpositivelyembraceare some of which we
hope that,if a person does embrace them,he does so not formoral
reasons. In otherwords,no matterhow flexiblewe make theguide
to conduct which we choose to label "morality,"no matterhow
rich we make the life in which perfectobedience to this guide
would result,we will have reason to hope that a person does not
wholly rule and directhis life by the abstractand impersonalcon-
siderationthatsuch a life would be morallygood.
Once it is recognized that moralityitselfshould not serveas a
comprehensiveguide to conduct, moreover,we can see reasons to
retain the admittedlyvague contemporaryintuitionsabout what
the classificationof moral and nonmoral virtues,interests,and the
like should be. That is, thereseem to be importantdifferences be-
tween the aspects of a person's life which are currentlyconsidered
appropriate objects of moral evaluation and the aspects thatmight
be included under the altered conception of moralitywe are now
considering,which thelatterapproach would tendwronglyto blur
or to neglect.Moral evaluation now is focusedprimarilyon features
of a person's life over which that person has control; it is largely
restrictedto aspects of his lifewhich are likelyto have considerable
effecton other people. These restrictionsseem as theyshould be.
Even if responsible people could reach agreementas to what con-
stitutedgood tasteor a healthydegreeof well-roundedness,forex-
ample, it seems wrong to insist that everyonetryto achieve these
thingsor to blame someone who fails or refusesto conform.
If we are not to respond to the unattractivenessof the moral
ideals that contemporarytheoriesyield eitherby offeringalterna-
tive theorieswith more palatable ideals or by understandingthese
theoriesin such a way as to preventthem fromyielding ideals at
all, how, then,are we to respond? Simply, I think,by admitting

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 MORAL SAINTS 435
that moral ideals do not, and need not, make the best personal
ideals. Earlier,I mentionedone of theconsequences of regardingas
a testof an adequate moral theorythatperfectobedience to its laws
and maximal devotion to its interestsbe somethingwe can whole-
heartedlystrivefor in ourselves and wish for in those around us.
Drawing out the consequences somewhat furthershould, I think,
make us more doubtful of the proposed test than of the theories
which, on this test,would fail. Given the empirical circumstances
of our world, it seems to be an ethical factthatwe have unlimited
potential to be morallygood, and endless opportunityto promote
moral interests.But thisis not incompatiblewith thenot-so-ethical
fact that we have sound, compelling, and not particularlyselfish
reasons to choose not to devote ourselves univocally to realizing
this potential or to takingup this opportunity.
Thus, in one sense at least, I am not reallycriticizingeitherKan-
tianismor utilitarianism.Insofaras thepoint of view I am offering
bears directlyon recentwork in moral philosophy,in fact,it bears
on criticsof these theorieswho, in a spiritnot unlike the spiritof
most of this paper, point out that the perfectutilitarianwould be
flawed in this way or the perfectKantian flawed in that.3The as-
sumption lying behind these claims, implicitlyor explicitly,has
been thattherecognitionof theseflawsshows us somethingwrong
with utilitarianismas opposed to Kantianism,or somethingwrong
with Kantianismas opposed to utilitarianism,or somethingwrong
with both of these theoriesas opposed to some nameless thirdal-
ternative.The claims of this paper suggest,however,that this as-
sumption is unwarranted.The flaws of a perfectmasterof a moral
theoryneed not reflectflawsin the intramoralcontentof the theory
itself.
MORAL SAINTS AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY
In pointing out the regrettablefeaturesand the necessaryabsence
of some desirable featuresin a moral saint, I have not meant to
condemn the moral saint or the person who aspires to become one.
Rather, I have meant to insist that the ideal of moral sainthood
should not be held as a standard against which any other ideal
must be judged or justified,and that the posture we take in re-
sponse to the recognitionthat our lives are not as morallygood as

3See, e.g., Williams, op. cit. and J.J.C. Smartand BernardWilliams, Utilitarian-
ism: For and Against (New York: Cambridge, 1973). Also, Michael Stocker,"The
Schizophreniaof Modern Ethical Theories," this JOURNAL, LXIII, 14 (Aug. 12, 1976):
453-466.

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436 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

theymightbe need not be defensive.4It is misleading to insist that

one is permittedto live a life in which the goals, relationships,ac-
tivities,and intereststhat one pursues are not maximally morally
good. For our lives are not so comprehensivelysubject to the re-
quirementthatwe apply forpermission,and our nonmoralreasons
for the goals we set ourselves are not excuses, but may ratherbe
positive, good reasons which do not exist despite any reasons that
mightthreatento outweigh them.In otherwords,a person may be
perfectlywonderfulwithoutbeing perfectlymoral.
Recognizing this requires a perspective which contemporary
moral philosophy has generallyignored. This perspectiveyields
judgments of a typethatis neithermoral nor egoistic. Like moral
judgments,judgmentsabout what it would be good fora person to
be are made from a point of view outside the limits set by the
values, interests,and desires that the person might actually have.
And, like moral judgments,thesejudgmentsclaim forthemselvesa
kind of objectivityor a grounding in a perspectivewhich any ra-
tional and perceptivebeing can take up. Unlike moral judgments,
however, the good with which these judgments are concerned is
not the good of anyone or any group other than the individual
himself.
Nonetheless, it would be equally misleading to say that these
judgments are made for the sake of the individual himself. For
thesejudgmentsare not concernedwith what kind of life it is in a
person's interestto lead, but with what kind of interestsit would be
good fora person to have, and it need not be in a person's interest
that he acquire or maintain objectivelygood interests.Indeed, the
model of the Loving Saint, whose interestsare identifiedwith the
interestsof morality,is a model of a person forwhom the dictates
of rational self-interest
and the dictatesof moralitycoincide. Yet, I
have urged thatwe have reason not to aspire to this ideal and that
some of us would have reason to be sorryif our childrenaspired to
and achieved it.
The moral point of view, we mightsay, is the point of view one
takes up insofaras one takes the recognitionof the factthatone is
just one person among others equally real and deservingof the

4George Orwell makes a similar point in "Reflectionson Gandhi," in A Collec-

tion of Essays by George Orwell (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1945),
p. 176: "sainthood is . . . a thing thathuman beings mustavoid. . . It is too read-
ily assumed that . . . the ordinaryman only rejectsit because it is too difficult;in
other words, that the average human being is a failed saint. It is doubtfulwhether
this is true. Many people genuinelydo not wish to be saints,and it is probable that
some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptationto be
human beings."

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 MORAL SAINTS 437

good thingsin lifeas a factwith practicalconsequences,a factthe

recognitionof which demands expression in one's actions and in
theformof one's practicaldeliberations.Competingmoral theories
offeralternativeanswersto thequestion of what themostcorrector
the best way to express this factis. In doing so, theyofferalterna-
tiveways to evaluate and to compare thevarietyof actions,statesof
affairs,and so on thatappear good and bad to agents fromother,
nonmoral points of view. But it seems that alternativeinterpreta-
tions of the moral point of view do not exhaust the ways in which
our actions, characters,and theirconsequences can be comprehen-
sivelyand objectivelyevaluated. Let us call the point of view from
which we consider what kinds of lives are good lives, and what
kinds of persons it would be good forourselvesand othersto be,
thepoint of view of individual perfection.
Since either point of view provides a way of comprehensively
evaluating a person's life,each point of view takesaccount of,and,
in a sense, subsumes the other. From the moral point of view, the
perfectionof an individual lifewill have some, but limited,value-
foreach individual remains,afterall, just one personamong others.
From the perfectionistpoint of view, the moral worthof an indi-
vidual's relation to his world will likewise have some, but limited,
value-for, as I have argued, the (perfectionist)goodness of an in-
dividual's life does not vary proportionally with the degree to
which it exemplifiesmoral goodness.
It may not be the case that the perfectionist point of view is like
themoral point of view in being a point of view we are everobliged
to take up and expressin our actions. Nonetheless,it provides us
with reasons that are independent of moral reasons for wanting
ourselvesand othersto develop our charactersand live our lives in
certain ways. When we take up this point of view and ask how
much it would be good for an individual to act from the moral
point of view, we do not findan obvious answer.5
The considerationsof this paper suggest,at any rate, that the
answer is not "as much as possible." This has implications both
forthe continueddevelopmentof moral theoriesand forthedevel-
opment of metamoralviews and forour conceptionof moral phil-

5A similar view, which has stronglyinfluencedmine, is expressedby Thomas

Nagel in "The Fragmentationof Value," in Mortal Questions (New York: Cam-
bridge, 1979), pp. 128-141. Nagel focuses on the difficultiessuch apparently in-
commensurablepoints of view create for specific,isolable practical decisions that
mustbe made both by individtualsand by societies.In focusingon the way in which
thesepoints of view figureinto the developmentof individual personal ideals, the
questions with which I am concernedare more likely to lurk in the backgroundof
any individual's life.

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438 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

osophy more generally. From the moral point of view, we have

reasons to want people to live lives that seem good fromoutside
that point of view. If, as I have argued, this means that we have
reason to want people to live lives that are not morally perfect,
thenany plausible moral theorymustmake use of some conception
of supererogation.6
If moral philosophersare to address themselvesat the most basic
level to thequestion of how people should live, however,theymust
do more than adjust the content of their moral theoriesin ways
thatleave room fortheaffirmationof nonmoral values. They must
examine explicitlythe range and natureof thesenonmoral values,
and, in lightof thisexamination,theymustask how theacceptance
of a moral theoryis to be understood and acted upon. For the
claims of this paper do not so much conflictwith the contentof
any particular currentlypopular moral theoryas they call into
question a metamoral assumption that implicitly surroundsdis-
cussions of moral theorymoregenerally.Specifically,theycall into
question theassumptionthatit is always betterto be morallybetter.
The role moralityplays in thedevelopmentof our charactersand
the shape of our practical deliberations need be neitherthat of a
universal medium into which all other values must be translated
nor that of an ever-presentfilterthrough which all other values
must pass. This is not to say that moral value should not be an
important,even the most important,kind of value we attendto in
evaluating and improvingourselvesand our world. It is to say that
our values cannot be fullycomprehendedon the model of a hierar-
chical systemwith moralityat the top.
The philosophical temperamentwill naturally incline, at this
point, towardasking, "What, then,is at the top-or, if thereis no
top, how are we to decide when and how much to be moral?" In
other words, thereis a temptationto seek a metamoral-though
not, in the standard sense, metaethical-theory that will give us

6The varietyof formsthat a conception of supererogationmight take, however,

has not generallybeen noticed.Moral theoriesthatmake use of thisnotion typically
do so by identifyingsome specificset of principles as universalmoral requirements
and supplement this list with a furtherset of directiveswhich it is morallypraise-
worthybut not required foran agent to follow. [See, e.g., Charles Fried,Right and
Wrong(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 1979).] But it is possible thatthe abilityto live
a morallyblameless lifecannot be so easily or definitelysecuredas this typeof the-
ory would suggest. The fact that thereare some situations in which an agent is
morally required to do somethingand other situations in which it would be good
but not required foran agent to do somethingdoes not imply thatthereare specific
principles such that,in any situation,an agent is requiredto act in accordancewith
theseprinciplesand otherspecificprinciplessuch that,in any situation,it would be
good but not required foran agent to act in accordance with those principles.

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 ON DOING GOOD 439

principles,or, at least,informaldirectiveson thebasis of which we

can develop and evaluate more comprehensive personal ideals.
Perhaps a theorythatdistinguishesamong the various roles a per-
son is expectedto play within a life-as professional,as citizen,as
friend,and so on-might give us some rules thatwould offerus, if
nothing else, a betterframeworkin which to thinkabout and dis-
cuss thesequestions. I am pessimistic,however,about the chances
of such a theoryto yield substantialand satisfyingresults.For I do
not see how a metamoraltheorycould be constructedwhich would
not be subject to considerationsparallel to thosewhich seem inher-
entlyto limit theappropriatenessof regardingmoral theoriesas ul-
timatecomprehensiveguides foraction.
This suggests that,at some point, both in our philosophizing
and in our lives, we must be willing to raise normativequestions
froma perspectivethatis unattachedto a commitmentto any par-
ticular well-orderedsystemof values. It must be admittedthat,in
doing so, we run theriskof findingnormativeanswersthatdiverge
from the answers given by whatever moral theoryone accepts.
This, I take it, is the grain of truthin G. E. Moore's "open ques-
tion" argument.In the backgroundof thispaper, then,therelurks
a commitmentto what seems to me to be a healthyformof intui-
tionism. It is a formof intuitionismwhich is not intendedto take
the place of more rigorous, systematicallydeveloped, moral theo-
ries-rather, it is intended to put these more rigorousand system-
atic moral theoriesin theirplace.
SUSAN WOLF
Universityof Maryland

ON DOING GOOD: THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG WAY

N this paper I am interestedin the relations governingthree
moralinjunctions:thosebiddingus to
fundamental
(i) Do as much good as we can.
(ii) Save lives wherewe can.
(iii) Refrainfromkilling.
Recent ethicistshave tended to focus on the relation between (ii)
and (iii), on the question of whetherthereis any intrinsicmoral
differencebetweenfailing to save a life (lettingsomeone die) and
takinga life(killing someone). But though I shall oftenhave occa-
sion to referto the literatureon this subject,one of my main con-

0022-362X/82/7908/0439$01.60 ? 1982 The Journalof Philosophy, Inc.

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