Download Doctrine of the will By Asa Mahan Pdf book free online – from Doctrine of the will By Asa Mahan Pdf book; his appropriate place in the heart, and the creature his. No real right or interest will be dis-esteemed, and each will intentionally command that attention and regard which its intrinsic and relative importance demands.
Every moral agent is under obligation infinite ever to be under the supreme control of such an intention, and no such agent can be under obligation to be or to do anything more than this.
The same principle has been announced in a form somewhat different by Kant, to wit: “So act that thy maxim of Will (intention) might become law in a system of universal moral obligation”—that is, let your controlling intention be always such, that all Intelligents may properly be required ever to be under the supreme control of the same intention.
By Cousin, the same principle is thus announced: “The moral principle being universal, the sign, the external type by which a resolution may be recognized as conformed to this principle, is the impossibility of not erecting the immediate motive (intention) of the particular act or resolution, into a maxim of universal legislation”—that is, we cannot but affirm that every moral agent in existence is bound to act from the same motive or intention.
It will readily be perceived, that each of these forms is really identical with that above announced and illustrated. It is only when we are conscious of the supreme control of the intention, to esteem and treat all persons and interests according to their intrinsic and relative importance, from respect to the idea of duty, that, in conformity with the principle as announced by Kant, our maxim of Will might become law in a system of universal legislation. When we are conscious of the control of such an intention, it is impossible for us not to affirm, according to the principle, as announced by Cousin, that all Intelligent are bound always to be under the control of the same intention. Two or three suggestions will close what I have to say on this point.