ON JUSTICE. 19 



ON JUSTICE. 



By HERBERT SPENCER. 



TN" the January number of this Review* (page 126), I made 

 L-L the incidental statement that "should I be able to complete 

 Part IV of the Principles of Ethics, treating of Justice, of which 

 the first chapters only are at present written, I hope to deal ade- 

 quately with these relations between the ethics of the progressive 

 condition and the ethics of that condition which is the goal of 

 progress — a goal ever to be recognized, though it can not be actu- 

 ally reached." These chapters were written nearly a year ago : 

 the fourth, not quite finished, having been untouched since May 

 last. In view of the possibility that the division of which they 

 form part may never be completed, or otherwise that its comple- 

 tion may be long delayed, it has occurred to me that as the topic 

 dealt with is now being discussed, these first chapters may, per- 

 haps with advantage, be published forthwith. The editor having 

 kindly assented to my proposal to issue them in this Review, I 

 here append the first three : reserving two others, conveniently 

 separable in subject-matter, for another article.] 



I. Animal-Ethics. — Those who have not read the first division 

 of this work f will be surprised by the above title. But the chap- 

 ters on Conduct in General and The Evolution of Conduct will 

 have shown to those who have read them that something which 

 may be regarded as animal-ethics is implied. 



It was there shown that the conduct which Ethics treats of is 

 not separable from conduct at large ; that the highest conduct is 

 that which conduces to the greatest length, breadth, and complete- 

 ness of life ; and that by implication there is a conduct proper to 

 each species of animal, which is the relatively good conduct — a 

 conduct which stands toward that species as the conduct we mor- 

 ally approve stands toward the human species. 



Most people regard the subject-matter of Ethics as being 

 conduct considered as calling forth approbation or reprobation. 

 But the primary subject-matter of Ethics is conduct considered 

 objectively as producing good or bad results to self or others 

 or both. 



Even those who think of Ethics as concerned only with con- 

 duct which deserves praise or blame, tacitly recognize an animal- 

 ethics ; for certain acts of animals excite in them antipathy or 

 sympathy. A bird which feeds its mate while she is sitting is re- 

 garded with a sentiment of approval. For a hen which refuses to 



* Nineteenth Century ; also Popular Science Monthly for March, page 616. 

 f Reference is here made to the Data of Ethics. 



