XXIII 



THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY 



IF any one is inclined to question the assertion 

 that the application of his idea of evolution to 

 ethical inquiry would alone have given Spencer a 

 place among the greatest thinkers of all time, let 

 him compare and contrast the literature of ethics 

 before and after say the year 1890. To quote a 

 convenient illustration of the all-embracing revo 

 lution which this master-idea has wrought in ethi 

 cal inquiry, one may refer to the famous mono 

 graph written for the Encyclopedia Britannica by 

 Sidgwick in 1878, and Professor Stewart s article 

 written a year or two ago for the tenth edition of 

 that work. In the former the name of Spencer 

 does not occur, and the new ethics is briefly al 

 luded to in the last few lines of Sidgwick s search 

 ing and scholarly discussion of the history of 

 ethical inquiry. Turn to Professor Stewart s ar 

 ticle, and it is seen that, in less than a quarter of a 

 century, a revolution has taken place the magni 

 tude and rapidity of which can surely never have 

 been surpassed in the history of any branch of 

 thought. Now it affords a sympathetic glow of 

 pleasure to recall the fact that Spencer s aim, 



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