Today I was reading through a book I found in my dad’s office. It was a tiny little book that contained a number of Thomas Jefferson’s most famous and impactful quotes. I began to read through them, and at face value all the quotes I read sounded great, but at closer examination, I realized I disagreed with a couple of the quotes.

Quote #1: “Everyone must act according to the dictates of his own reason.”

At first glance this sounds like a good idea. What would really happen though, if everyone did whatever they felt like, with no regard to a higher morality or ethical code? I think we would have chaos! I believe people should follow their passions in life and do the things that make them happy, but they should do this within the confines of a higher moral and ethical code. People should not act on every whim or impulse that seems right, and should instead logically compare their whims and impulses to a higher ethical and moral code, and only act on the ones that are morally right when compared to that higher moral code. I think the idea of situational ethics, the idea that the right thing to do depends on the situation, and depends on the person, has become increasingly popular and blindly accepted in society today. I think this is dangerous, because if this philosophy is followed to its obvious conclusion, the world would be in a state of confusion and chaos.

Quote #2: “I believe that justice is instinct and innate; the moral sense is as much a part of our constitution as that of feeling, seeing or hearing.“

I don’t disagree with this idea entirely, but I don’t like how it compares justice and morality to our physical senses of feeling, seeing or hearing. I think justice is something that shouldn’t be based on impulse or emotion or feeling. It should instead be based on logical, unemotional, and unbiased examination of a situation. This brings to mind a quote from Marcus Aurelius. He says we are true to nature not when we “[approach] an object with prejudice or preconception,” but when we “[handle] each thing dispassionately before embracing it.”