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Lescandaledumonde,estcequifaitl’offense;
Etcen’estpaspécher,quepécherensilence.
(Molier,„Letartufe”,ActIV
,SceneV
,1505)
Thepublicscandaliswhatbringsoffence,
Andsecretsinningisnotsinatall.
Introduction
TheabovewordsarespokentoElmirebyTartuffewhotriesto
persuadeherintosinfulintercourse.InthePolishversion,thispassage
iswordeddifferently,moreexpressively,Ithink1.Itshowsthatitisthe
indignationfeltbyothers,andnotonlythatwhichcausesaninsult,
thatbothersman,sometimesbecominganoverwhelmingburden.If
theworldwerenotscandalized,thatis,ifourbehaviourstayedhidden,
wewouldfeelnoremorse.Inotherwords,itmaybebeneficialtousto
askwhetherconscienceissomethingwithonlyasocialdimension,is
itonlyaninternalizationofsociallyacceptablenorms?Orisitre-
vealedintheformofvariouskindsofremorse,thatis,alsowhenoth-
ersdonotknowaboutourdeeds,wheneverwefailtocomplywith
anormorabidebyavalue?
Thesequestionsgiverisetomoredoubts,demandaddressingmore
issues.Arewe,andifso,towhatextentarewedependentonthesoci-
etyasfarasmoralbehaviourisconcerned?Towhatextentdoesthe
societyaffectthechoiceswemake,anddoesthereverseapplyaswell
1„Zgorszenieświata–oto,cosumieniegniecie,
Iwcaleniegrzeszy,ktogrzeszywsekrecie”.
[„Causingapublicscandaliswhatbotherstheconscience
Andhewhosinsinsecretdoesnotsinatall”.]
Molier,Świętoszek[Tartuffe],transl.T.Boy-Żeleński,Wyd.KWESp.zo.o.,Warsza-
wa2000.
