Well brought up folks no longer believe in the devil, but…
““Well brought up folks no longer believe in the devil, but as their ideas are no more rational than those of our nurses, they do but disguise devil and angel under a pedantic wordiness honored with the name of philosophy. They do not say "devil" nowadays, but "the flesh," or "the passions." The"angel" is replaced by the words "conscience" or "soul," by "reflection of the thought of a divine creator" or "the Great Architect," as the Free- Masons say. But man's action is still represented as the result of a struggle between two hostile elements. And a man is always considered virtuous just in the degree to which one of these two elements --the soul or conscience-- is victorious over the other --the flesh or passions. It is easy to understand the astonishment of our great-grandfathers when the English philosophers, and later the Encyclopedists, began to affirm in opposition to these primitive ideas that the devil and the angel had nothing to do with human action, but that all acts of man, good or bad, useful or baneful, arise from a single motive: the lust for pleasure.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
The quote critiques how modern language reframes moral struggle, replacing devil and angel with abstract concepts, yet still frames human behavior as a battle between higher conscience and base passions driven by pleasure seeking.
In simple terms: Modern moral language masks old good‑vs‑evil ideas with philosophical terms, but still sees actions as a clash of conscience and desire.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the underlying motives behind moral language.
Themes
morality
philosophy
human nature
language
psychology
Mood
critical
reflective
Type
analytical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- personal decision making
- ethical debates
- psychotherapy
- education
- political discourse
Key Concepts
dualism
pleasure principle
social critique
Questions to Reflect On
- How does language shape our moral judgments?
- Can we reduce human action to pleasure seeking alone?
A Different Perspective
It may oversimplify complex motivations to a single pleasure motive.