OF THE GOOD. 



257 



There is thus one trait common to both schools of 

 ethical thought : both see the necessity of going beyond 

 the limits of Ethics in the narrower sense as the doctrine 

 of private morality ; both seek a wider horizon, a larger 

 or deeper view beyond that of the individual mind, its 

 nature and interests. The great thing for systematic as 

 for practical morality is, after all, to overcome, to lead 

 out of, the Self. Anything less than this would, in the 

 opinion of either school, hardly deserve the name of the 

 Good, be it in theory or in practice. This way out of 

 the self the naturalistic and evolutionist schools of Ethics 

 find in the study and interests of Humanity, of the 

 civitas humana, the human city; the critical and intro- 

 spective schools attempt a further step : they hold that 

 the real root of human good and goods is their spiritual 

 nature, that the human is rooted in the Divine, the 

 civitas humana in the civitas Dei. 



We are then face to face with the two new problems 



become necessary in 1908. Fore- 

 most thinkers in France, however, 

 no less now than in time past, do 

 not rest content with detaching 

 morality from a religious or meta- 

 physical creed. This is shown very 

 emphatically in Renouvier's own 

 later writings, it remaining doubt- 

 ful, however, whether the some- 

 what fantastic character of his 

 latest philosophy termed ' ' Person- 

 alism," with its cosmological specu- 

 lation, has not temporarily obscured 

 the importance of his really great 

 moral Treatise referred to. The 

 earnest spirit which permeates so 

 many articles in the ' Revue de 

 Metaphysique et de Morale' testi- 

 fies also to the felt necessity of 

 spiritualising the moral teaching 

 in the present age. 



76. 



Necessity 



pure ethics- 



progress is, as it were, that of a 

 mathematical curve, or of a sidereal 

 orbit, the future tracings of which 

 have to be deduced from a formula 

 or law established by past expe- 

 rience, Comte's idea of altruism 

 gaining, with the aid of the in- 

 tellect, the upper hand over egoism. 

 FouilleVs doctrine of the increasing 

 sway of ideal forces, and Guyau's 

 doctrine of life as a propelling and 

 expanding principle, represent 

 various forms of evolutionist 

 ethics. On the other side, we 

 have the growing recognition of 

 the necessity of referring to some 

 ultimate and supreme moral law as 

 the source and centre of appeal for 

 righteous conduct. Kantian rigor- 

 ism, as explained through Renou- 

 vier, is gaining increased attention, 

 a new edition of his treatise having 



VOL. IV. 



R 



