Three hundred years ago people in England were putting…
““Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the 'Rule of Human Nature or Right Conduct?’ But surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did—if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather—surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did? There is no difference of moral principle here: the difference is simply about matter of fact. It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in witches: there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there. You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Moral judgments depend on belief in the existence of the alleged wrongdoing; without belief, the moral imperative disappears.
In simple terms: Belief drives moral action.
Key Takeaway
Question your assumptions.
Themes
morality
belief
justice
Mood
thoughtful
critical
Type
philosophical
argumentative
When to use this quote
- legal policy
- historical witch trials
- modern conspiracy theories
Key Concepts
epistemology
ethics
Questions to Reflect On
- Do we have moral duties toward imagined harms?
- How do beliefs shape laws?
A Different Perspective
The argument assumes rational consistency that may not hold in emotional contexts.