THE ARBITER OF ETHICS 215 



cate scientific ethics, consider this statement of a writer 

 on genetics which merely reflects a widespread opinion : 

 " Human civilization goes hand in hand with the de- 

 gree of successful interference which man exerts upon 

 the natural forces surrounding him." The truth of 

 this statement lies in the correct view that the pur- 

 pose of scientific inquiry is not only to discover the 

 forces of nature but to interfere with them so as to 

 increase man's dominating power; the falsehood con- 

 sists in assuming that civilization is based on, or even 

 necessarily runs with power. Everyone knows that 

 power may make for evil as efficiently as for good; 

 the ethical standard of a civilization depends on the 

 will of its individuals to choose between right and 

 wrong. To deny this, is to refuse the attributes of 

 the noblest civilization to Jesus, to Buddha, to Socrates, 

 each of whom was quite ignorant of science, and lived 

 in times when men exerted themselves but little to 

 interfere with natural forces. Nor could we to-day, in 

 the midst of an earnest scientific endeavor, deny that a 

 civilization higher than our own would be possessed 

 by a community formed of men like to them. 



The greatest difficulty encountered, if the attempt be 

 made to determine the ethical value of science, is, as I 

 have said before, the lack of a spirit of serious criti- 

 cism amongst men of science, with the consequent 

 absence of critical data on the aims of science and on 

 the effect which scientific activity has had on society. 



