Sheldon — Tlie Literature of Ethical Science. 93 



dealing most directly with the problems of ethics. If I were 

 to cover the whole field, the list of books would take up an 

 entire volume instead of a few pages. Ethical theories of one 

 type or another are hinted at, or more or less worked out in a 

 large number of the treatises in philosophy or metaphysics, 

 as for instance in " The World and the Individual," by Prof. 

 Koyce; Bradley's ** Appearance and Reality;" Lotze's 

 **Mikrokosmus;" or the classic " Geschichte des Materialis- 

 mus," by Lange. Nearly all the more extended treatises on 

 psychology are obliged to deal with it, and may have several 

 chapters devoted to it, — especially as the writers here would 

 perhaps regard it as also a sub-department of their larger 

 science. Even the scholars dealing with the physical sciences 

 may turn aside to have a word to say on ethics; and still more, 

 the men dealing with biology. Now and then we have such a 

 shocking piece of superficiality as the recent treatise on *' World 

 Riddles" by Ernst Haeckel. We can rest assured that he 

 will have his say here on conscience and ethical ideals. But 

 it is a work of which his brother biologists should be ashamed, 

 for he went entirely outside of his province. 



On the other hand there are very legitimate discussions of 

 many of the problems of ethics in nearly all the leading treat- 

 tises dealing with political science, anthropology or sociology. 

 This is also true of many works in economics. The writers on 

 the history of civilization are likewise obliged to deal with 

 ethics. 



Still more closely allied it is, of course, with the subjects of 

 religion, theology, or biblical criticism. Any writers under- 

 taking to give an extensive treatment of church doctrine must 

 have their chapters on the ethics of the Bible, of Judaism, or 

 of Christianity. As these, however, do not deal with the 

 problem of ethics strictly as a science, I have not included 

 them in my list. 



Where, however, the connection is the closest would be 

 in art and literature. A history of ethics in future times de- 

 scriptive of the nineteenth century which should fail to con- 

 sider the writings of George Eliot, Ibsen, Carlyle, Browning, 

 Ruskin, and scores or hundreds of others, would be no real 



