June 11, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



531 



The ethical school of economists aims, then, to 

 direct in a certain definite manner, so far as may 

 be, this economic, social growth of mankind. 

 Economists who adhere to this school wish to as- 

 certain the laws of progress, and to show men 

 how to make use of them. 



It has been said that recent tendencies in politi- 

 cal economy indicate a return to Adam Smith ; 

 and as in philosophy the watchword, ' Back to 

 Kant,' has come into vogue, it has been thought 

 that political economists ought to find inspiration 

 in the cry, ' Back to Adam Smith ! ' While recog- 

 nizing the truth which this implies, I am inclined 

 to the opinion that in some respects the drift is 

 back even to Plato. If you should attempt to 

 develop a conception of political economy out of 

 Plato's writings, would it not, when formulated, 

 be about as follows : Political economy is the 

 science which prescribes rules and regulations for 

 such a production, distribution, and consumption 

 of wealth as to render the citizens good and happy? 1 

 With this compare Laveleye's definition as found in 

 his text-book: " Political economy may therefore be 

 defined as the science which determines what laws 

 men out to adopt in order that they may, with 

 the least possible exertion, procure the greatest 

 abundance of things useful for the satisfaction of 

 their wants ; may distribute them justly, and con- 

 sume them rationally." 2 Though exception may 

 be taken to this definition as a rather too narrow 

 conception of political economy, it answers very 

 well the purposes of the present article, for it draws 

 attention to the ethical side of the recent develop- 

 ment of economics. 



It is well to describe somewhat more in detail 

 the ethical ideal which animates the new political 

 economy. It is the most perfect development of 

 all human faculties in each individual, which can 

 be attained. There are powers in every human 

 being capable of cultivation ; and each person, it 

 may be said, accomplishes his end when these 

 powers have attained the largest growth which is 

 possible to them. This means any thing rather 

 than equality. It means the richest diversity for 

 differentiation accompanies development. It is 

 simply the Christian doctrine of talents committed 

 to men, all to be improved, whether the individual 

 gift be one talent, two, five, or ten talents. The 

 categorical imperative of duty enforces upon each 

 rational being perfection ' after his kind.' Now, 

 the economic life is the basis of this growth of all 

 higher faculties, — faculties of love, of knowledge, 

 of aesthetic perception, and the like, as exhibited 

 in religion, art, language, literature, science, 



1 See the writer s 1 Past and present of political econ- 

 omy,' p. 48. 



2 Taussig edition, New York, 1884, p. 3. 



social and political life. What the political 

 economist desires, then, is such a production and 

 such a distribution of economic goods as must in 

 the highest practicable degree subserve the end 

 and purpose of human existence for all members 

 of society. 



This is different from the conception of life 

 which is current in society, though it is in harmony 

 with the ethical ideal of Christianity. The ma- 

 jority of the well-to-do tacitly assume that the 

 masses are created to minister unto their pleasure, 

 while this ethical ideal does not allow us to accept 

 the notion that any one lives merely ' to subserve 

 another's gain.' An illustration will make clear 

 this difference. Listen to two ladies discussing 

 the education of the serving-class, and you shall 

 find that the arguments probably all turn upon 

 the effect thereby produced upon them as servants. 



As has already been stated, the demand of 

 ethics is not equality. A large quantity of eco- 

 nomic goods is requiied to furnish a satisfactory 

 basis for the life of the naturally gifted. Books, 

 travels, the enjoyment of works of art, a costly 

 education, are a few of these things. Others 

 lower in the scale of development will need few 

 economic goods. One may be able to satisfy all 

 rational needs for what can be purchased for three 

 dollars a day, while another may need four times 

 that amount. Again : wdiile it is probable that 

 those who belong to the ethical school, as it is 

 called, with Mill, look forward with satisfaction 

 to a time when the condition of an ordinary 

 servant will be held to be beneath members of 

 civilized society, it is doubtless true that large 

 numbers to-day, like, perhaps, the majority of 

 our negroes, will find in the condition of servants 

 in really superior families precisely the best pos- 

 sible opportunity for personal development which 

 they are able to use. 



The ethical view of economics rejects the com- 

 munism of Baboeuf as something not merely im- 

 practicable, but as something not at all desirable. 

 On the other hand, social ethics will not allow us 

 for one moment to accept the apparent ideal of 

 Renan, when he calmly assures us, that, to such 

 an extent do the many subserve the gain of the 

 few, that forty millions may well be regarded as 

 dung, do they but supply the fertility which will 

 produce one truly great man. Like many others, 

 including indeed representatives of high culture, 

 he seems to regard human development as some- 

 thing existing altogether apart from individuals, 

 as an end to be pursued in itself without regard 

 to the condition of human beings as such. 



It cannot well be argued that present society 

 satisfies, in so high a degree as one may rationally 

 desire, the demands of ethics. On the one hand, 



