ABSTRACT
It may be remembered that Mr. Podsnap remarked, with sadness tempered by satisfaction, that he regretted to say that “Foreign nations do as they do do.” Besides aiding the comforting expression of moral disapproval, the law of identity has yet another useful purpose in practical ethics: It serves the welcome purpose of providing an excuse for infractions of the moral law. There was once a man who treated his wife badly, was unfaithful to her, was dishonest in business, and was not particular in his use of language; and yet his life on earth was described in the lines: This man maintained a wife’s a wife, Men are as they are made, Business is business, life is life; And called a spade a spade.
