Page:Ethics (Moore 1912).djvu/150

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ETHICS

is to say, that, when we call an action wrong, we mean to say that God has forbidden it. But other philosophers have supposed that it is a being which may be called “Reason,” or one called “The Practical Reason,” or one called “The Pure Will,” or one called “The Universal Will,” or one called “The True Self.” In some cases, the beings called by these names have been supposed to be merely “faculties” of the human mind, or some other entity, resident in, or forming a part of, the minds of all men. And, where this is the case, it may seem unfair to call these supposed entities “non-human.” But all that I mean by calling them this is to emphasise the fact that even if they are faculties of, or entities resident in, the human mind, they are, at least, not human beings—that is to say, they are not men—either any one particular man or any set of men. For ex hypothesi they are beings which can never will what is wrong, whereas it is admitted that all men can, and sometimes do, will what is wrong. No doubt sometimes, when philosophers speak as if they believed in the existence of beings of this kind, they are