THE EVOLUTION OF THE MORAL SENSE 107 



two classes. The method of classifying actions into 

 right and wrong is widely different in different men. 

 The differences are primarily due to environment 

 which produces one type of classification for a boy 

 of the slums, another for the millionaire's son, one 

 classification for the Englishman and another for the 

 Turk. But in each case whatever is eventually 

 placed in the category of right has tlio imperative 

 demand of conscience for its support. 



The Development of the Moral Sense in the Race 



The method of the development of a moral 

 sense in the child may clearly serve as a guide 

 toward an understanding of its development in the 

 race. Each individual at present certainly acquires 

 his ideas of right and wrong by being taught. Our 

 problem is therefore to account for the race con- 

 science, or, more specifically, to account for the fact 

 that men ever developed any ideas of right and 

 wrong at all, which they could then hand on to their 

 children by teaching. Data as to the development of 

 this conception of right and wrong among primitive 

 peoples come partly from recorded history, partly 

 from the customs of low races, and partly, we must 

 recognize, from pure theoretical argument as to what 

 seems the most probable. The most natural explana- 

 tion of the origin of the moral sense seems to be 

 something as follows : 



The start, of course, must have been the family 

 duties already mentioned as necessary to produce 

 family harmony. The strength derived from unity 

 preserved certain families more and more perma- 

 nently, and the individuals in the families thus came 

 to pass a long life under one another's influence. 



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