264 Science Indifferent to It. 



and Christian family, with the consequent ob 

 scuration of domestic virtue, receives no counte 

 nance from ethical science. On the contrary, 

 comparative and historical ethics show that the 

 &quot; pairing &quot; family has hitherto always been as 

 sociated with a stage of culture immensely infe 

 rior to our own. And, from the interrelation of 

 social forces, it might not unreasonably be ap 

 prehended that a return to the barbarous system 

 of conjugal relations would entail general social 

 deterioration. If ethical science does show that 

 the family, and the morality of the family, have 

 had an historical growth, and that they vary 

 with time and place, it does not thereby really 

 derogate from their sanctity or authority within 

 a civilization that has once absorbed them. Sci 

 ence, indeed, can tell us nothing of the validity 

 of virtue, duty, or good. And if speculation in 

 the guise of moral philosophy takes up the prob 

 lem, it will find that the domestic virtues have 

 the same warrant as justice or benevolence that 

 warrant being, in a last analysis, an inexpugnable 

 consciousness of their right to us and authority 

 over us. 



