ETHICS 



2083 



ETHICS 



the lower bowel. If the anesthetic is freed 

 from all impurities before it is administered 

 the patient is much less liable to suffer from 

 nausea on regaining consciousness. Since the 

 middle of the nineteenth century ether has 

 been used to some extent in Ireland as an 

 intoxicant. The effects are similar to those 

 attending the use of opium. 



ETHICS, eth'iks. Questions of right and 

 wrong are woven into all conversation; they 

 are as close to our life as the air we breathe. 

 Should I buy this expensive coat? Is it right 

 for Harry to go with the boys with whom he 

 associates? Should Mary stay out of school to 

 work? Each of these questions includes the 

 problem of right and wrong. Questions of this 

 nature are constantly confronting us in the 

 home, in the school, in society and in the world 

 of business. How may we find the right answer 

 to them? What should constitute the under- 

 lying principles by which the. moral problems 

 of our lives and of society are solved? 



So important are such questions held to be 

 that a complete "science of right and wrong" 

 has grown up, which has for its purpose the 

 solving of them, and this science is called 

 ethics, the name being derived from a Greek 

 word meaning character. The student of ethics 

 must not expect, however, that his specific 

 moral problems will be solved by a study of 

 this science. Ethics endeavors to answer such 

 questions along general lines, but it does not, 

 and cannot, answer specifically each question, 

 for two reasons: 



1. "Because each life, and so the right choice in 

 any life, is different from any that has been made 

 before." 



"Because of the wide difference in opinion it 

 is impossible to tell offhand what morality should 

 be. We can, however, tell what morality has 

 been and is. We can assert, for instance, with- 

 out fear of contradiction, that murder, lying and 

 theft are wrong, and that kindness, truthfulness 

 and honesty are right." 



Everyday Phases. As a science, ethics finds 

 no place in the list of studies until college days 

 are reached ; but long before school days begin 

 every child must have been made acquainted 

 with many of the most important ethical prin- 

 ciples. The instructor or the- mother who 

 teaches a child to be habitually courteous/un- 

 selfish, kindly and self-controlled is giving in- 

 struction in just those fundamentals which 

 'scholars and philosophers have laid down as 

 the basis of ethical conduct. That such train- 

 ing is the most important part of her work, 

 every mother and teacher recognizes. 



The teachers and mothers recognize, too, that 

 for such moral instruction no hard and fast 

 rules can be laid down. Age, disposition, cir- 

 cumstanceall these determine in large meas- 

 ure the course it shall take; but the following 

 suggestions will be found helpful by anyone 

 who has to deal with children. 



1. The child is a creature of impulse and often 

 needs help in gaining that self-control necessary 

 to a stable character. "I didn't think," or "I did 



t before I thought," Is his frequent excuse when 

 his acts are called in question. At this stage he 

 needs guidance rather than censure. 



2. Use every right effort to fix in the minds of 

 children high ideals and right principles of living, 

 so when they leave home and school they may be 

 able to withstand the temptations that confront 

 them. 



3. The higher emotions will displace the lower 

 love will drive out fear, and sympathy will 

 allay angry passions ; therefore cultivate the 

 higher emotions. 



4. Moral training to be effective must be posi- 

 tive, not negative. Lead children . to see and 

 choose the right. Give them opportunity to dis- 

 cuss questions of a moral nature whenever they 

 are in doubt about them. 



5. See that children are provided with whole- 

 some recreation, and such work as they have the 

 capacity to do. Not only an "idle brain," but idle 

 hands, as well, are the "devil's workshop." 



6. Let the atmosphere of the home and the 

 school be such as to strengthen all right impulses 

 and higher emotions. 



7. It is by the choices and acts of everyday life 

 that character is formed, more than by great 

 crises. Through his daily tasks and decisions 

 the youth fortifies himself to withstand the crisis 

 when it comes. 



8. Make use of stories and the great characters 

 of literature as incentives to a noble character. 

 The myth and the fairy tale when wisely chosen 

 leave the child with the desire to emulate the 

 good and beautiful character that dominates the 

 story. Such characters as Gluck in The King of 

 the Golden River, Ernest in The Great Stone Face, 

 Ellen in Scott's Lady of the Lake and many others 

 that might be named exert a powerful influence 

 on boys and girls in the " 'teen" age. 



9. Train for active life; strength of character 

 is seldom developed in seclusion. The Great 

 Teacher prayed, not that His disciples might be 

 taken out of the world, but that they might be 

 kept from the evils of the world, that they might 

 discharge thetr duties in mingling with men, and 

 at the same time be unscathed by the temptations 

 and evils with which they were surrounded. 



"A talent may be developed in solitude, but 

 character only in the rush of the world." 



Consult Larned's A Primer of Right and 

 Wrong; Cabot's Every-day Ethics; Rickaby's 

 Moral Philosophy, or Ethics and Natural Law; 

 Royce's The Philosophy of Loyalty. 



Related Subject*. The following articles in 

 these volumes contain material which is more or 



