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Conscience and Law, Or, Principles of Human Conduct
Conscience and Law Or Principles of Human Conduct Author:William Humphrey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: first place, have knowledge of the evil effect, since nothing is willed which is not foreknown. One must, secondly, be free not to do the action, and so place th... more »e cause which has the evil effect. One must, thirdly, be bound not to do the action, and bound, moreover, for this special reason— lest that evil effect should follow. Unless a man is bound not to act, he is free to exercise his right of action. Unless a man is bound to refrain from an action lest an evil effect of it should follow, he in placing the cause, by doing the action, does not will the evil effect. He only permits the evil effect. There is no affection in his will towards the evil effect, as towards an end. Where there is no such affection, the result is not willed, but only permitted. Permission of an evil effect is lawful when a cause, which is in itself good or indifferent, has two immediate effects—one of which is good, and the other of which is evil—if there is a grave reason why one should do the action which is the cause of these two effects, and if in doing the action one has a right end. There must, therefore, be four conditions, in order to lawful permission of an evil effect. The end of the agent in the doing of the action must be good, that is to say, he must notintend the evil effect; for otherwise that effect would be voluntary on his part. Secondly, there must be a just, or at least an indifferent, cause for the action, that is to say, the action itself must not be in opposition to any law; for this is necessary in order that the agent should have the right to do the action itself, and should not sin by the doing of it. Thirdly, the effect which is good must follow at least as immediately from the action which is the cause of both effects, as does the effect which is evil. If the evil effect ...« less