 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
The main purpose of morals is to promote behaviour serving the interests of the group, and not merely of the individual. I think that the "objectively right" act is that which best serves the interest of the group that is regarded as ethically dominant. The difficulty is that this group will be differently defined by different people and in different circumstances. It may be the family, the firm, the nation, the Church, or mankind as a whole; it may even be larger than mankind, and include all sentient beings. Which of these groups is chosen to define "objective rightness” will depend upon what is the collection of human beings that is making the definition. ... In laws regulating vivisection, the animals must, by a fiction, be supposed to be capable of stating their case.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, (1954), chapter 5
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