for lawmakers for its bearing on the award of honors and punishments.
Acts done under compulsion or from ignorance are generally considered involuntary. An act is compulsory if its origin is external to the doer or sufferer, that is, if it is one to which the doer or sufferer contributes nothing, as if, for example, the wind,1 or people who have us in their power, were to carry us in a certain direction. But if an act is performed for fear of some greater evil or for some noble end, as for example, if a tyrant, who had our parents and children in his power, were to order us to do some shameful act on condition that, if we did it, their lives would be spared, and, if not, they would be put to death, it is questionable whether such an act is voluntary or involuntary. The act of throwing goods overboard during a storm at sea is of the same sort; for nobody would voluntarily make such a sacrifice in the abstract, yet every sensible person will make it for his own safety and that of his companions. Acts like these are of a mixed character, yet more like voluntary than involuntary acts, for they are the results of choice at the time, and the end of the act is a result of the choice made at the moment of performing it. When we speak then of an action as voluntary or involuntary, we must regard the occasion when it was performed. The person*1 whose acts we are here considering voluntarily; for in acts like his the power which sets the machinery of his limbs in motion is in himself, and when the origin of anything is in the person himself, it lies with him either to do it or not to do it. Such actions then are voluntary, although in the abstract they may be called involuntary; because nobody would choose any such act in itself.
Such acts are at times objects of praise, when men submit to something shameful or painful for the sake of gaining something great and noble; in a contrary case they are objects of blame, for only a bad man would submit to something utterly shameful, if his object were ignoble or only trivial. Some acts are pardonable, though not
*1-That is, the person who acts at the command of a tyrant or
when he is at sea, under stress of stormy weather.
1-NO, I'M NOT TRYING TO UNNECESSARILY PUT
"BOB" IN A SPOT BY PUTTING A FOOTNOTE HERE AND LINK TO
WHAT IF YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF
SIDESTEP HERE.
BUT SO MUCH OF THIS HAS TO DO WITH ETHICS, MORAL RELATIVISM,
RELIGION(S), AND HOW THEY HAVE BEEN PERCEIVED HISTORICALLY THAT
I THINK THE LINK IS VALID.
DON'T THINK THE WISDOM OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IS PASSÉ YET IN WHAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT? LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD: TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE TO SIGN MY GUESTBOOK.
TO SEE HOW RELEVANT THIS 1982 TERM OF REFERENCE (QUOTING ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY FROM THE 4TH CENTURY B.C.) REMAINS IN THE 21ST CENTURY, TAKE YOUR NEXT FOOTSTEP HERE.