 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
But when the fundamental ethical importance of feeling and desire has been admitted, it still remains a question whether there is such a thing as ethical knowledge, ''Thou shalt not kill' is imperative, but "murder is wicked'' seems to be indicative, and to state something true or false. "Would that all men were happy" is optative, but "happiness is good" has the same grammatical form as "Socrates is mortal". Is this grammatical form misleading, or is there truth and falsehood in ethics as in science? ...
This question is not an easy one, and I do not think that any simple answer is possible.