The Possibility of Ethics

(transl. by Andrzej Bronk)

Abstract

The presented text is an excerpt from B. J. F. Lonergan Insight. A Study of Human Understanding (New York 1992⁵, p. 618-630). It prolongs the discussion of questions raised in earlier chapters on common sense and in the study of human development. It meets the issue in three steps. First, an attempt is made to work out such notions as the good, will, value, obligation. From this effort there follows a method of ethics that parallels the method of metaphysics and, at the same time, a cosmic or ontological account of the good. Secondly, the possibility of ethics is envisaged from the viewpoint of freedom and responsibility. The relevance of the canon of statistical residues is considered. The nature of practical insight, practical reflection, and the act of decision is outlined. The fact of man's essential freedom and responsibility is concluded. Thirdly, the possibility of ethics is investigated from the further viewpoint of effective freedom. Is an ethics possible in the sense that it can be observed? Is man condemned to moral frustration? Is there a need for a moral liberation, if human development is to escape the cycle of alternating progress and decline?