NATURE 



83 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1915. 



THE CITIZEN AND THE STATE. 



I) Morals in Evolution : a Comparative Study in 

 ^Comparative Ethics. By Prof. L. T. Hob- 

 ^ouse. Pp. xvi + 648. Third edition. (Lon- 

 pon : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1915.) 105. 6d. 

 Let. 

 p The Natural History of the State : an Introduc- 

 tion to Political Science. By Prof. H. J. Ford. 

 Pp. viii+188. (Princeton: University Press; 

 London : Oxford University Press, 1915.) 

 45. 6d. net. 

 (3) Citizens To Be : a Social Study of Health, Wis- 

 dom, and Goodness, with Special Reference to 

 Elementary Schools. By M. L. V. Hughes. 

 Pp. xvii + 331. (London: Constable and Co., 

 Ltd., 1915.) 45. 6d. net. 

 (1) 'T^HE present world-struggle is likely to 

 X have among its far-reaching results a 

 modification more or less profound in our concepts 

 of both the bases and the standards of civilisation, 

 of morality as a whole, of the State, and of educa- 

 I tion. Cultural values are in the crucible. The 

 German point of view in each should not be either 

 ignored or over-estimated ; the German theory and 

 practice of Kultur in war serves as a critical test 

 and ordeal for Western civilisation generally. We 

 speak of German immoralism and " Prussianism " ; 

 the Germans describe our own characteristic 

 methods as hypocrisy and "muddling through." 

 Whether these distinctions, if real, are the same 

 as those between perversion and orthogenesis, 

 autocracy and freedom, is an open question, but 

 we can certainly learn from the enemy the lesson 

 of applying science to every department of civilised 

 life and organisation. And, after all, whatever 

 the ideals of a people, it is doomed to stagnation 

 unless its science is living, and is continuously 

 informing every activity of national life. This 

 may be considered an academic truism by the 

 practical man, who is too often the unscientific 

 man ; but a truism is none the worse for being 

 academic, and, if true, deserves a trial. The 

 Germans have had the insight to try it, and they 

 have had extraordinary successes therefrom. If 

 these do not continue, it will be the fault, not of 

 the application of science, but of German char- 

 acter and circumstances. 



Some thinkers may have noticed how German 

 crimes against human and international morality, 

 such as the destruction of Louvain and the sink- 

 ing of the Lusitania, have passed into somewhat 

 of oblivion in the consciousness of neutral States 

 and bodies, such as the U.S.A. and the Vatican, 

 with a rapidity directly proportional to that of 

 J^C. .^395, VOL. 96] 



the immediate indignation which they aroused. It 

 may be argued that this phenomenon is due to 

 the absence of retribution, and the argument 

 would be a significant criticism of world-morality. 

 Prof. Hobhouse, in the new and third edition of 

 his "Morals in Evolution," devotes some five 

 pages to the question of punishment, whereas 

 Prof. Westermarck, in his "Origin and Develop- 

 ment of the Moral Ideas," devoted about a quarter 

 of his space to it, roughly speaking, about five 

 hundred pages. The significance of this contrast 

 is perhaps to be found in the fact that the outlook 

 of Prof. Hobhouse is philosophical, from the con- 

 cept, that of Prof. Westermarck is from emotion. 

 Of course, these views are not mutually exclu- 

 sive, but most usefully mutually subservient. 

 Prof. Hobhouse has practically rewritten his book, 

 and has incorporated in it the investigations into 

 the culture of the "simpler peoples," carried out 

 by himself and Messrs. Ginsberg and Wheeler. 

 This anthropological research on statistical lines 

 enormously increases the value of the book. As 

 before, the author's broad outlook is eminently 

 sane; if he retains any prejudice, it is Hegelian, 

 but one must have an absolute of some sort. 



"That the moral standard of man is based on 

 the character of man ... is a principle which 

 has been little understood in modern ethics." In 

 order to see the genesis of morality the author 

 goes to instinct. Instinct "is a name for human 

 character as it grows up under the conditions of 

 heredity, and it is from this character, with all 

 the faults and foibles along with the virtues 

 thereof, that the moral judgment issues. Human 

 morality is as blind and imperfect as man him- 

 self." Sympathy or desire for reciprocal benefits 

 are only small factors in the growth of morals. 

 Again, though "the conception of the Good is 

 the logical foundation of every rule of action . . . 

 the standard of conduct may be affected by causes 

 which are not ethical in origin, though they may 

 come to have ethical consequences. . . . For 

 example, a magical rite may be prescribed 

 as a duty because it is believed to be efficacious 

 in averting a calamity to one's self, one's family, 

 one's society, as the case may be. If the belief 

 in magic disappears, the performance of the rite 

 will cease to be obligatory, although there may 

 be no change in the current conception of the 

 duties to society, family, or self." In this con- 

 nection, the author has been very successful in 

 estimating the part in morality played by the body 

 of tradition. 



With regard to the development of ethical con- 

 ceptions, we are "constantly tempted to believe 

 that an animal is guided by clear ideas, while 

 the evidence when all put together goes to prove 



E 



