Man's Place in Nature 201 



greater part of his activity is non-ethical, that is 

 to say, it is not consciously determined in reference 

 to general ideas or ideals, with their attendant feel- 

 ings as impulses. Some highly moralized men 

 and women are able to give an ethical note to a 

 great part of their daily activity, but this is not 

 the way with most, though at almost any turn a 

 commonplace act may acquire ethical value. By 

 ethical conduct we do not necessarily mean good 

 conduct, but conduct deliberately controlled in 

 relation to some ideal in most cases, doubtless, 

 one that makes for progressive righteousness. 



When a man is hungry he usually leaves his 

 work or his play and goes to dine obedient to an 

 organic signal which sounds in the philosopher 

 as well as in his dog. Instinctively or by force of 

 habit, he neither hurries nor eats more than is 

 customary at the time. Ethically, he may refrain 

 from something which he is fond of, which inter- 

 feres with his effectiveness as a workman. 



Moreover, an action which was ethical to one 

 generation or time of life need not remain so. We 

 live in the hope of this. It was an ethical act on 

 our forefather's part not to overeat himself, and 

 to refrain from killing his enemy, but it costs none 

 of us much ethical effort to avoid gluttony in solids 

 and to abstain from rapid murder. Thus, in a sense, 

 we become happier and better as we become less 

 ethical as our virtues become more instinctive. 



