A Recurring Theme

Choosing the good for it's own sake is becoming a recurring theme in my reading. I took note of Pojman's description of Immanuel Kant's view of true goodness:

"One must perform one's moral duty solely for it's own sake"..."Some people conform to the moral law because they deem it in their own enlightened self-interest to be moral because they do not act for the sake of the moral law"..."unless he performs these acts because they are his duty, he is not acting morally, even though his acts are the same ones they would be if he were acting morally" (Pojman 129-30).

Last week I read in his commentary of Augustine: "Morality does not consist in following rigid rules against one's nature but having a transformed character whereby one does the right thing out of a moral motive" (Pojman 78)...

To go back even earlier, Aristotle wrote in Nicomachean Ethics: "...someone who does not enjoy fine actions is not good; for no one would call a person just, for instance, if he did not enjoy doing just actions..." and "an end pursued in its own right is more complete than an end performed because of something else..."

I guess this could all be looked at as splitting hairs -- after all, the same action can be performed, despite one's motive or disposition.

But this line of thought is causing me to examine my own moral choices/lifestyle. Do I choose the good because it's culturally enforced or because its worthy in and of itself?