Evolution of 3forals. 269 



imperative nature of its demands. Its result is organized 

 as conscience in the mind of the individual. Conscience, 

 therefore, is the individual's inheritance of the moral expe- 

 riences and tendencies of all past generations ; it is not 

 merely the creation of the existing social status. Prevail- 

 ing customs, ideas, and institutions may influence the form 

 of its immediate manifestations, — they do not account for 

 its fundamental character as an imperative obligation urging 

 man to an ideal end. Conscience appears in the individual 

 as an intuition ; but like all other intuitions it is the out- 

 growth of inherited experiences. It is of variant force and 

 reliability in different individuals, dependent upon circum- 

 stances of organization and culture. In so far as it is 

 actively existent, it urges man always to do the right, leav- 

 ing his intellect, however, to determine what the concrete 

 right is in any special emergency. It is not true, therefore, 

 that conscience is an infallible guide, in the unqualified 

 sense assumed by the transcendental moralist. The nature 

 of actions as good or bad can only be determined by an ob- 

 servation and estimation of their effects. Morality therefore 

 involves an action of the intellect as well as of the feelings ; 

 it holds man responsible for the intelligent investigation of 

 the results of actions, as well as for the vague intention to 

 do right. 



Moral Science asserts that the qualities of actions are not 

 accidental or arbitrarily determined by the will of Deity. 

 They are " necessary consequences of the constitution of 

 things." * By the study, therefore, of the laws of life, and 

 of human conduct as related thereto, we may ascertain what 

 kinds of action necessarily extend the boundaries and satis- 

 factions of life, in the individual and in the community, 

 and what kinds produce a contrary effect. These deductions, 

 when ascertained, are recognized as laws of conduct, and 

 the educated conscience is impelled to conform to these 

 laws irrespective of any direct estimation of resultant 

 happiness or misery. Thus the crude utilitarianism of the 

 older schools is superseded by the rational utilitarianism 

 of the evolution philosophy. Obedience to the moral law 

 becomes the object and incentive of the highest intelligence, 

 in place of the empirical impulse of immediate utility or 

 egoistic pleasure. 



Moral Science as thus described embodies the truths 



" Spencer's Data of Ethics. 



