CHAP, in THE APPEAL TO BIOLOGY 29 



A different criticism might be stated by one believing 

 less confidently than idealists do in the completed scale 

 of the sciences, while attaching more distinctive import- 

 ance than they attach to the revelations of the moral 

 consciousness. Such a one would ask, Is this biological 

 parable anything more than a covert appeal to the 

 moral consciousness? Is it anything more than a 

 fantastic way of saying, " You ought," a masked transit 

 tion from the "So it is " of phenomenalism to the " So 

 it ought to be" of ethics? Religion, at least in its/ 

 historical forms, has been deposed ; Christianity has been 

 scouted ; intuition has been laughed down ; philosophy 

 has been told to vanish with the ghosts before the noon- 

 tide of science. Yes, but how are you going to bring 

 men under authority when so many authorities have j 

 been sent packing ? It is very convenient if you can 

 assert the claim, the moral claim, of the community in 

 the parable of body and members ! This may not be a 

 perfect moral authority, but it is at any rate an authority, 

 and in the bankruptcy of the moral consciousness any 

 authority is better than none. Nay, for Comte it is the 

 very authority he wants, human and governmental. 

 Yet this doctrine of the social organism is no pronounce- 

 ment in the name of facts ; it is a moral dictum, 

 picturesquely stated in terms of popular science. The 

 community is doubtless part of the moral authority to 

 which each man owes allegiance. But the parable of 

 the social organism would not win the wide acceptance 

 it does if it were not for the authority of conscience 

 within, and for the training of conscience by the authority 

 of the Christian spirit during centuries. 



We conclude then that the appeal to biology has 

 done Comte a very great service. After he had cut 

 away the foundation of morals he has been able to find 



