INSECTS 



Fig. 75. A common 



are, on the contrary, specific attributes that are condi- 

 tioned by circumstances. An act that is right is one in 

 accord with the nature of the creature performing it; that 

 which is wrong is a contrary act. Hence, what is right for 

 one species of animal may be wrong tor another, and the 

 reverse. 



The conduct of adult human individuals, according to 

 human standards of right and wrong, we call morals; the 

 similar conduct of other animals is a part of what biolo- 

 gists call behavior. But we unconsciously recognize some- 

 thing in common between morals and behavior when we 

 speak of the acts of a child, which we call his behavior 



rather than his morals. 

 Behavior, in other 

 words, we regard as in- 

 volving less of personal 

 responsibility than mo- 

 rality. Hence we say 

 that animals and chil- 

 species of termite of Jren behave, but that 



eastern North America j 1 l i 



inhabiting dead wood, adult human beings con- 



Reticulilermes fiampes. sc i OU sly do right Or 



£.2hW.S£ wro "g' Yet, the two 

 modes of action accom- 

 plish similar results: if the child behaves 

 properly, his actions are right; if the 

 adult has a properly developed moral 

 sense, he too does the right thing, or at 

 least he refrains from doing the wrong 

 thing unless misguided by circumstances 

 or by his reasoning. 



Animals other than the human, it 

 appears, generally do what is right from their standpoint; 

 but their actions, we say, are instinctive. Some will insist 

 that the terms "right" and "wrong" can have no appli- 

 cation to them. Substitute then, if you please, the 

 expression "appropriate or non-appropriate to the ani- 



[126] 



