SOCIOLOGY IN ETHICAL EDUCATION. 



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reality, and ought to be made so in definition. The sooner this 

 listinction is recognized, the more rapid will be the moral devel- 

 >pment of the race. 



Upon what, then, can a system of ethics be based ? Upon the 

 fact of human relations. If there were only one human being in 

 the world, there would be no need of an ethical system, because 

 there would be no other man with whom he could have any rela- 

 tions. Neither would there be any need of it if the inhabitants 

 r ere few, and were so scattered over the earth that no one of 

 them, in securing for himself the necessaries of life, would ever 

 jome in contact with any of all the others. But, just so soon as 

 my one place on the earth becomes the common abode of two, so 

 soon relations are established between them, and there is need of 

 >rinciples of conduct governing each in his acts which in any 

 ray affect the other. An ethical system to control the actions of 

 these two men alone would be very simple. But when, from in- 

 crease of population, or for motives of common interest, indi- 

 iduals unite and form a tribe, there comes to be tribal ethics. 



'hen two tribes come in contact, intertribal relations are 

 formed ; and when tribes grow into nations, national and inter- 

 tational ethics arise ; and as the life of the individual becomes 

 Lore complex within itself, and more involved in its relations to 

 )ther members of the same tribe or nation, and as the nations in- 

 crease in size and number, the rules governing this increased 

 complexity must by necessity become more and still more Com- 

 dex, until we have the most possible complex system of ethics 

 roverning the most highly developed society. It is here, in this 

 fact of human relations, that we find a basis for human ethics. It 



the instruction of our children and youth in these relations for 

 rhich we plead as a remedy for social disorders. Some recent 

 lodifications of school work point toward such instruction ; but, 



our judgment, none of them are calculated to satisfy the demand 

 )f our day. The moral results of the work in the kindergarten, 

 r here the little ones are unconsciously instructed in their rela- 

 tions to each other, can not be overestimated. Similar results 

 night to be produced all along the line of educational work, but 



iese can not be secured through kindergarten methods with 

 children beyond kindergarten age. Other methods must be in- 

 rented appropriate for different ages. 



If the study of human relations is so important, how can our 

 jhildren and youth be instructed in them ? We venture to reply 

 ;hat this end can be attained by the introduction, in elementary 

 md as yet undeveloped forms, of the new science of sociology, 

 r hich, if not scientifically defined as the science of human rela- 

 tions, certainly treats of the whole realm of these relations, and 

 10 other science does. There is evidence that " the education of 



