CHAPTER XIX. 

 OUR MONISTIC ETHICS. 



Monistic and dualistic ethics. Contradiction of pure and practical 

 reason in Kant. His categorical imperative. The neo-Kantians. 

 Herbert Spencer. Egoism and altruism. Equivalence of the two 

 instincts. The fundamental law of ethics : the Golden Rule. 

 Its antiquity. Christian ethics. Contempt of self, the body, 

 nature, civilization, the family, woman. Roman Catholic ethics. 

 Immoral results of celibacy. Necessity for the abolition of the 

 laws of celibacy, oral confession, and indulgences. State and 

 Church. Religion a private concern. Church and school. State 

 and school. Need of school reform. 



The practical conduct of life makes a number of 

 definite ethical claims on a man which can only be 

 duly and naturally satisfied when they are in complete 

 harmony with his view of the world. In accordance 

 with this fundamental principle of our monistic philo- 

 sophy, our whole system of ethics must be rationally 

 connected with the unified conception of the cosmos 

 which we have formed by our advanced knowledge of 

 the laws of nature. Just as the infinite universe is 

 one great whole in the light of our monistic teaching, 

 so the spiritual and moral life of man is a part of this 

 cosmos, and our naturalistic ordering of it must also 

 be monistic. There are not two different, separate 

 worlds — the one physical and material, and the other 

 moral and immaterial. 



The great majority of philosophers and theologians 

 still hold the contrary opinion. They afiirm, with 



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