Paradox 3: That All Misdeeds Are in Themselves Equal, and Good Deeds the Same
The matter it may be said is a trifle, but the crime is enormous; for crimes are not to be measured by the issue of events, but from the bad intentions of men. The fact in which the sin consists may be greater in one instance and less in another, but guilt itself, in whatsoever light you behold it, is the same.
A pilot oversets a ship laden with gold or one laden with straw: in value there is some difference, but in the ignorance of the pilot there is none.
Your illicit desire has fallen upon an obscure female. The mortification affects fewer persons than if it had broken out in the case of some high-born and noble virgin; nevertheless it has been guilty, if it be guilty to overstep the mark.
When you have done this, a crime has been committed; nor does it matter in aggravation of the fault how far you run afterward; certainly it is not lawful for anyone to commit sin, and that which is unlawful is limited by this sole condition, that it is shown to be wrong.
If this guilt can neither be made greater nor less (because, if the thing was unlawful, therein sin was committed), then the vicious acts which spring out of that which is ever one and the same must necessarily be equal.
Now if virtues are equal among themselves, it must necessarily follow that vices are so likewise; and it is most easy to be perceived that a man cannot be better than good, more temperate than temperate, braver than brave, nor wiser than wise.
—from Cicero, Stoic Paradoxes 3
As if it weren’t shocking enough to hear that virtue is the only human good, the Stoics then proceed to claim that all virtues are equally good, and that all vices are equally bad. This is why I am plodding through this section even more slowly than usual.
I would like to think that I am sensitive to subtleties, and yet I also run the danger of piling on so many conditions that I end up erasing the original distinction. Initially, it didn’t sit right with me that good and evil could be so clearly delineated, although I eventually discovered why my confusion arose from my own vacillation, a desire for a convenient escape clause from my own responsibilities.
Even as we should rightly speak of more or less, this can only be gauged by first recognizing a simple state of presence or absence. However great the extent of the degrees, the identity always remains one and the same in kind, just as increasing or decreasing the quantity does not alter the underlying existence of a quality.
Furthermore, as much as the circumstances will vary, the intentions behind our human acts are either in accord with nature or contrary to nature, such that an offense may be viewed as big or small, narrow or broad, but it stands as an offense nonetheless, and it therefore serves to deny us a life of excellence. Fiddle with the accidents as much as you wish, the essence will stay constant.
If that comes across as too abstract, Cicero’s examples are refreshingly grounded in everyday experience. Regardless of the cargo, the captain was still careless at the helm. Regardless of her background, the playboy still treated the woman shamefully. The slacker is a slacker, and the scoundrel is a scoundrel.
I will never forget a nasty little fellow I once knew, who crashed my friend’s car, but refused to take the blame on the grounds that it was already such a wreck. I had to remind myself that beating him senseless could not be justified on the grounds that he was already such a selfish bastard.
A few years later, I watched in horror as a frat boy ridiculed a young lady until she burst into tears. I couldn’t find the words to put him in his place, so I merely stared at him in disbelief. “Chill out, dude,” he said. “It’s not like she’s a hottie or anything.” This is what happens when we grade our behavior on a sliding scale of utility.
Whether it is to save my hide or to avoid an awkward moment, to lie is to lie. Whether it is to win the big contract or to satisfy a whim, to steal is to steal. So too, any integrity is an act of courage, and any gift is an act of kindness, no matter the stakes. The true value of the deed is in the purity of the disposition, not in calculating the most favorable outcomes.
In other words, virtues and vices cannot be tabulated on a business ledger. One person can be richer than another, but all good people are equal to one another, whatever their other assets might be.
As if it weren’t shocking enough to hear that virtue is the only human good, the Stoics then proceed to claim that all virtues are equally good, and that all vices are equally bad. This is why I am plodding through this section even more slowly than usual.
I would like to think that I am sensitive to subtleties, and yet I also run the danger of piling on so many conditions that I end up erasing the original distinction. Initially, it didn’t sit right with me that good and evil could be so clearly delineated, although I eventually discovered why my confusion arose from my own vacillation, a desire for a convenient escape clause from my own responsibilities.
Even as we should rightly speak of more or less, this can only be gauged by first recognizing a simple state of presence or absence. However great the extent of the degrees, the identity always remains one and the same in kind, just as increasing or decreasing the quantity does not alter the underlying existence of a quality.
Furthermore, as much as the circumstances will vary, the intentions behind our human acts are either in accord with nature or contrary to nature, such that an offense may be viewed as big or small, narrow or broad, but it stands as an offense nonetheless, and it therefore serves to deny us a life of excellence. Fiddle with the accidents as much as you wish, the essence will stay constant.
If that comes across as too abstract, Cicero’s examples are refreshingly grounded in everyday experience. Regardless of the cargo, the captain was still careless at the helm. Regardless of her background, the playboy still treated the woman shamefully. The slacker is a slacker, and the scoundrel is a scoundrel.
I will never forget a nasty little fellow I once knew, who crashed my friend’s car, but refused to take the blame on the grounds that it was already such a wreck. I had to remind myself that beating him senseless could not be justified on the grounds that he was already such a selfish bastard.
A few years later, I watched in horror as a frat boy ridiculed a young lady until she burst into tears. I couldn’t find the words to put him in his place, so I merely stared at him in disbelief. “Chill out, dude,” he said. “It’s not like she’s a hottie or anything.” This is what happens when we grade our behavior on a sliding scale of utility.
Whether it is to save my hide or to avoid an awkward moment, to lie is to lie. Whether it is to win the big contract or to satisfy a whim, to steal is to steal. So too, any integrity is an act of courage, and any gift is an act of kindness, no matter the stakes. The true value of the deed is in the purity of the disposition, not in calculating the most favorable outcomes.
In other words, virtues and vices cannot be tabulated on a business ledger. One person can be richer than another, but all good people are equal to one another, whatever their other assets might be.
—Reflection written in 5/1999
IMAGE: Quentin Matsys, Ill-Matched Lovers (c. 1525)
No comments:
Post a Comment