A NEW PHASE OF AN OLD CONFLICT 557 



animals and in man. The most elementary form of love is that of the 

 mother toward the child, and it is a direct development from self-love. 

 The cat-mother who defends her kitten with her life, later shows toward 

 it an increasingly unfriendly attitude. With decreasing dependence of 

 the young lifa there is a diminution of parental love. Among gregari- 

 ous animals that find an advantage in living in groups, the affectionate 

 relation lasts much longer, but the change finally comes. 



Here the sources of love lie open before us. Parental love is an ele- 

 mentary phenomenon, resulting in the passing of the instinct of self- 

 preservation from the individual to the species. From the same source 

 arises sexual love and also the bond between members of a family, which 

 makes each ready for a measure of self-sacrifice for the protection of 

 the others. From the family to the tribe, from the tribe to the race, 

 from the race to mankind, the same process extends and develops, and 

 this development is equipollent to and largely identical with the growth 

 of ethics. 



The energetic imperative enters again here. If we ask why a family 

 or a group of animals or, specially, of men, hang together, the answer 

 is that it is to their mutual advantage, because it brings in numerous 

 ways an economy of energy in the securing of shelter, food and defense. 

 As soon as the group is formed, the conduct of each member must adapt 

 itself to the requirements of the group. Those whose behavior is most 

 beneficial to the group are highly esteemed and their demeanor becomes 

 a pattern for others. Those who have not modified their individualistic 

 instincts to harmonize with the standards of the group are treated worse*, 

 or may even be punished or turned adrift. Often one member of pro- 

 nounced individualistic instincts appears, who combines therewith great 

 abilities and personal force. He may subordinate the others and com- 

 pel them to serve his personal interests. The condition thus created, if 

 it continues long enough, gives rise to an ethics in which obedience to 

 the ruler appears as the greatest virtue, and opposition to his will as the 

 most heinous offense. Out of this condition, according to our author, 

 grows the type of morals presented by the higher religions and summed 

 up in the injunction, love God above all and thy neighbor as thy self. 

 This is the moral system of an oppressed folk, who give to Caesar what is 

 Caesar's and who contrast their joyless lives on earth with the higher 

 existence hoped for early in the future, for which they seek to prepare 

 by the exercise of love toward those who are to be their fellows for all 

 eternity. Ostwald lays stress upon the point that the foundation of this 

 morality has been shaken by the fact that the kingdom of Heaven, 

 expected so soon, has not as yet put in an appearance. 



The demands of the present will, however, not be denied, and under 

 their pressure a new, unacknowledged morality has arisen, containing 

 the living elements of the old, adapted to the changed environment of 

 to-day. 



