the evolution of the moral sense 115 



The Content op Eight and Wkong 



One further question remains : If the ideal which 

 embodies our ideas of right is simply an imaginary- 

 one, why is it that men's ideals should agree? The 

 answer to this question is simply that they do not 

 agree. The knight of the twelfth century was a 

 totally different person from the knight of the 

 twentieth century, and the ideal of the Chinaman is 

 very unlike that of the German. It is true that in 

 some respects there is an agreement among widely 

 different peoples as to the attributes which belong to 

 this ideal, and this agreement can be readily under- 

 stood when we notice one fact. Among all national- 

 ities and at all ages the ideal individual is the one who 

 conforms best to the social ideas of his day. He is in 

 general the best social individual, the one who best 

 conforms to that class of actions that best fits him to 

 be a member of his social organization. Impulses be- 

 come moral only when directed toward society, since 

 a hermit can be neither moral nor immoral. Now, 

 certain fundamental factors are universally neces- 

 sary if there is to be any society at all. A certain 

 amount of truth and faithfulness toward one 's allies 

 is an absolute necessity if there is to be any union; 

 and so we find that faithfulness to one's friends is 

 universally one of the attributes of all people's 

 ideals. Beyond some few fundamental conceptions 

 of this sort, we do not find agreement among differ- 

 ent people as to what is considered right and wrong. 



Moreover, our opinions as to what constitute the 

 best types of society are also changing, and it follows 

 that our moral standards are also changing; for the 

 ethical standard is always the conception of the best 



