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We will next, before going further, remind ourselves of what ‘being wronged’
means. Since it has already been settled that ‘doing a wrong’ must be
intentional, ‘being wronged’ must consist in having an injury done to you by
some one who intends to do it. In order to be wronged, a man must (1) suffer
actual harm, (2) suffer it against his will. The various possible forms of harm
are clearly explained by our previous, separate discussion of goods and evils.
We have also seen that a voluntary action is one where the doer knows what
he is doing. We now see that every accusation must be of an action affecting
either the community or some individual. The doer of the action must either
understand and intend the action, or not understand and intend it. In the
former case, he must be acting either from deliberate choice or from passion.
(Anger will be discussed when we speak of the passions the motives for crime
and the state of mind of the criminal have already been discussed.) Now it
often happens that a man will admit an act, but will not admit the prosecutor’s
label for the act nor the facts which that label implies. He will admit that he
took a thing but not that he ‘stole’ it; that he struck some one first, but not that
he committed ‘outrage’; that he had intercourse with a woman, but not that he
committed ‘adultery’; that he is guilty of theft, but not that he is guilty of
‘sacrilege’, the object stolen not being consecrated; that he has encroached,
but not that he has ‘encroached on State lands’; that he has been in
communication with the enemy, but not that he has been guilty of ‘treason’.
Here therefore we must be able to distinguish what is theft, outrage, or
adultery, from what is not, if we are to be able to make the justice of our case
clear, no matter whether our aim is to establish a man’s guilt or to establish
his innocence. Wherever such charges are brought against a man, the question
is whether he is or is not guilty of a criminal offence. It is deliberate purpose
that constitutes wickedness and criminal guilt, and such names as ‘outrage’ or
‘theft’ imply deliberate purpose as well as the mere action. A blow does not
always amount to ‘outrage’, but only if it is struck with some such purpose as
to insult the man struck or gratify the striker himself. Nor does taking a thing
without the owner’s knowledge always amount to ‘theft’, but only if it is
taken with the intention of keeping it and injuring the owner. And as with
these charges, so with all the others.
We saw that there are two kinds of right and wrong conduct towards others,
one provided for by written ordinances, the other by unwritten. We have now
discussed the kind about which the laws have something to say. The other
kind has itself two varieties. First, there is the conduct that springs from
exceptional goodness or badness, and is visited accordingly with censure and
loss of honour, or with praise and increase of honour and decorations: for
instance, gratitude to, or requital of, our benefactors, readiness to help our
friends, and the like. The second kind makes up for the defects of a
2199
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156