268 Evolution of Morals. 



the perfection of the race be achieved. When such a con- 

 viction is clearly held by a strong and well-balanced mind,, 

 it can do no otherwise than seek the perfection of its own 

 manhood through intelligent and devoted service to the 

 welfare of mankind. Not to follow the imperative mandate 

 of duty, even if it lead to contumely and death, would para- 

 lyze the life with a sense of ignoble shame. 



Such is the history, in brief, of the evolution of morals — 

 such the facts which underlie the foundations of moral sci- 

 ence. Throughout the ages since man emerged from the brute- 

 egoism of his original estate, diverse human motives and 

 activities have been pitted against one another in a struggle 

 for existence similar to that which has gone on in the lower 

 range of biological development. The same law has held 

 good in moral evolution which justified the method of nature 

 on the lower plane — the fittest in action has survived. 

 Those motives, impulses, desires, which best fit man for the 

 rational use of all his faculties, and which best serve the 

 race in its struggle toward a condition of social equilibrium,, 

 have gradually emerged, and become not indeed actually 

 triumphant over all lower impulses, but at least of gener- 

 ally recognized authority among intelligent people. The 

 law of conflict, which seemed fraught only with pain, de- 

 struction, and the perpetuity of egoistic tendencies in the 

 government of human conduct, blossoms at last with the 

 noblest flowers of unselfish character. 



It now remains for us to consider the nature of the ethical 

 system which logically results from the facts of moral evo- 

 lution, and some of the objections which have been raised 

 against it. As the principle of utility, in a high sense, has 

 determined the selection or rejection of motives and activi- 

 ties throughout the entire process of moral evolution, it 

 naturally follows that the Science of Morals should be 

 classed as a utilitarian system. That it differs radically,, 

 however, from the crude utilitarianism of the older schools 

 is evident from our previous discussion, and will be still 

 farther evident upon consideration. 



Moral Science treats of the conduct of man in his relations 

 to other men and to society in general. The order of moral 

 evolution, and the laws governing it, are registered in the 

 history and experience of the race. Its sanctions have been 

 universally operative, alike upon the ethically wise and the 

 ethically ignorant, thus educating all to a knowledge of the 



