Question

What does this statment mean:

Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice

Answer 1

I think it touches on the issue of free will and the fact that we may not always know the consequences of our actions, but we must, nonetheless, make decisions based on our limited knowledge. If we don't act at all, however, then we are not exercising our ability to choose and, therefore, cannot be acting morally (just like a rock or a tree cannot act morally).

I think this is similar to a notion expressed in the Christian New Testament (Revelations 3:15-16) thus: "I [God] know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Sometimes as we weigh the morality of an action, we can take the easy road of not choosing ("lukewarm"). These ideas suggest that in order to live morally, we must choose, even if it means that we will sometimes make mistakes.