EDITOR'S TABLE, 



409 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE EVOLUTIONARY VIEW OF 

 MORALITY. 



OUR correspondent " K.," whose 

 letter we publish on another page, 

 is in serious trouble over the difficulty 

 he finds in reconciling the view of mo- 

 rality given by Mr. Spencer, in his 

 Data of Ethics, with the facts of real 

 life. Mr. Spencer, as "K." understands 

 him, teaches that "the object to be 

 gained by pursuing morality is happi- 

 ness " ; while facts teach that morality 

 sometimes calls for the sacrifice of hap- 

 piness. Mr. Spencer strives to base 

 morality on a foundation of reason, 

 whereas experience seems to prove that 

 it must to a large extent be based on 

 sentiment that, unless there is a heart 

 impulse toward morality, there will be 

 a lack of power to do the right, except 

 in so far as it may also be the conven- 

 ient. Therefore, as philosophy does not 

 deal with or control the heart, it fails 

 to furnish any adequate reason for the 

 pursuit of morality. 



Our correspondent has done well to 

 express in plain language the thoughts 

 that trouble him, and that such thoughts 

 should trouble him is a sign that his 

 own moral nature is in a state of healthy 

 activity. "We hope, however, to be able 

 to show that the evolutionary system of 

 ethics is not in conflict with experience, 

 and that it renders important help to 

 the cause of morality by giving a clear 

 and consistent idea of what morality is. 

 It is a mistake to suppose that it does 

 much more than this. It does not 

 claim to supply any incentives to right 

 action, or any dissuasions from wrong 

 action, other than may be found in a 

 consideration of the consequences which 

 such actions entail. "We do not ask the 

 physician or the hygienist to provide 

 people with motives, beyond what the 

 facts they state may furnish, for seek- 

 ing health or avoiding sickness ; yet no 



one, we think, will question that the 

 diffusion of sound medical and hygienic 

 information has an important effect in 

 promoting the health of the community. 

 The probability is that "K.," like many 

 others who are feeling their way to the 

 scientific standpoint, is still more or less 

 under the influence of moral systems 

 which bring the sanctions of conduct 

 into far greater prominence than the 

 essential nature of conduct. Systems 

 that do this, and that place their sanc- 

 tions mainly in another world, do much 

 to retard the proper definition of mo- 

 rality. While men's minds are strongly 

 occupied with the thought of rewards 

 and punishments beyond all human 

 measurement, the only question that 

 seems to have any pertinence is, How 

 am I to secure this infinite reward ? 

 How can I hope to escape that terrible 

 penalty ? The overwhelming character 

 of the sanctions compels unquestioning 

 submission to whatever code of morals 

 may be promulgated in connection with 

 them ; and future systems of morality 

 come to be judged, not so much by the 

 nature of their ethical teaching, as by 

 the motives they bring to bear in sup- 

 port of it. 



This, however, we maintain, is not 

 the right point of view. The business 

 of a moral system is to define morality, 

 not to enforce it; to trace the conse- 

 quences and relations of actions, not to 

 supplement deficiencies in the general 

 scheme of things. If the decay of arbi- 

 trary sanctions leaves certain individ- 

 uals unprotected against their own law- 

 less tendencies, we can not be altogether 

 surprised, and should not be unduly 

 discouraged. No change, political, so- 

 cial, or intellectual, finds all persons 

 equally prepared to meet it. The wise 

 are those whose lamps are trimmed and 

 fed, and who can light themselves to a 

 place of light: the foolish are those 



