THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12683, 22 December 1906, Page 7

THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY.

(Uv Pnorr-ssoß J. Macmillan Browx, M.A.j Why most men shrink from immo rulity even when the law does not forl,irl it. is a perennial problem. For it is tho foundation of all criminal liw and nil education, and n-eeds an-f.-wcring. \ The ancient civilisations and 11-ediir-val Christendom answered it by dividing all mankind into their own jui'l :ilk'ns, and confining morality to the former. Tlie Crusades, tho Ronais M-.iu-e. and the age of discovery began t,i sh.iko the faith of the West in this answer. Tho moro mor., ft new of other races and other cultures, tho moro they distrusted this self-•romplai-eent theory. The eighteenth century completely abandoned it, ami tried to find tlie origin of morality, sometira.ee in th© intellect, scmiotimes in tho esthetic House, and often<*st in an authoritative new instinct, which they called variously th© moral sense, th© sense of duty, and conscience. The utilitarian theory of th© nineteenth century, which places the origin as well as the standard of thc moral law in tho greatest happiness of the greatest number, was, in spite of its apparent scientific attitndq, as little based on scientific observation as those it tries to displace. It is as purely speculative and analytic in its method as Clarke's and Butler's; nor lias it taken account of that evolution of ethical rules which strikes the mind of the modern student of history and ethnology. Spenoer, McLennan, Lubbock, and Tylor applied anthropology to the elucidation of the problem of moral origins. Darwin, in the fonrth and fifth chapters of his "Descent of Man," whilst taking' illustrations from ethn<ok>gy, made It a question, of natural history. And -Sutherland, in hia two large volumes on "The .Origin - and Growth of the Moral Instinct," developed this and .based ethics on physiology aw* pathology. Both took the influencd of natural seleotioo and heridity aa supreme. But Weiwmann. Archdall Reid, and other, hays _ insisted on tho greater potency of education and environment. And V it was -natural that writeer on the evolution of morality, J>r. Waa- . termarck. of the University of Hel- - aingfora, should introduce into hia title ; tha word "idea" instead of "sens©" or "inatiwst/' His work, of which the-first volume has been published thia yesr, is called "The-Origin and Developmant of tho Moral Ideas." AN EMOnONAI. THEOIIY. . And yet he gives an ©motional origin 4 ' to our moral judgments, rejecting tho . old intellectual _ theory of # the eighteenth century and the übilitaViam theory of tbs nineteenth. His own theory ia this:—All moral principles ! ate in their origin, at least, publio, 'amotions that have a flavour%of ge«i;»* rality and appear ddsipter-ested and ; impartial. General approval, he thinks, *' givaa that tmiWraality or objectivity which, . ia hia opinion, differentiate* .publio amotion from (private. He fails te see that the sontimepts of a politician often e«rn puhli«( approval and ' sesm to he-objective, and yet neither '- issue from moral faielinga nor appeal ' to moral feelings. Acta and qualities '■'.-■'. that are morally neutral conatantry .->,; «tir this universal amotion; •• he my* • himself, "genina, courage, pluck, "-.:' strength, and accidental suecs-a' are often more admired than virtue." Tha author .hows here and there a certain uneasiness about the accn- , racy of his theory. And ocoasioially he ' ieema to grant almost all that the intellectual theorists demand; "The inV! -nance of intellectual comiderationa upon moral judgments ia immon»_"; and th-a -moral oonacionaneaa develops largely "from the on- ■ reflwtmg to th* reflecting, from the •unenlightened to the enlightened." ■■■'!" Whilat he acknowledges that "the emo- »,: tional oonstitutfion of man does not "''*•'•• present the aaimo unifownfty aa tho human intellect. "It ia this very caprice ' of emotion tliat .makes it incapable of .* either originating or uphokluig a general or universal law, su<sh as that of morality. There is nothing stable, ~- uniform, or deliberate enough isi emio- .. tions to make them the basis of a law. The author feels that hia theory is open * , f o tho oritiei-rm that it is ethical subjectivism, which, according to many, lowers tho partition between morality and immorality. And he replies that a scientific theory "is not invalidated '• by the mere fact that it is Tikely to •cause mischief." That might .be bo in physics, or biokgy, or astronomy, but it is not so in ethics, for the theory of morality that givw the cue t» immorality is surely on the -wrong linos. He denies that ethical aubjeOtivism lends aanection to arbitrarim*e and caprice; for, jho aaya, our moral oon- • wiousnesa "belonga *o our mental oonutirution> -which we cannot change as we pleaeo." But anr-ly this is begging tlie question; what he has got to • prove and tries to prove is that our i moral consciousness belongs to a Irspecial part of our mental txmatitution, . namely..tha emotions. And the criminal, perverted and abnormal, wuld justify their acts on the same grounds: '" Tis their nature to," like the dogs in Watta's hymn. He asks: "Why should the moral law command less obedience, because it forme part of our own natureP" But what he is rebutting is not that tho moral law is not j part of oux nature, hut that it is not tho emotional part of our nature. He thinks that ethical subjectivism would favour moral priustioe; "Could it be brought thorn© to people that there is no absolute standard in morality, they would perhaps be more tolerant in their judgments, and moro apt to foten to the voice of reason." But might they not tolerate the evil and retro-gi-essive aa well as the good, and listen to the voioe of\passion as much as to that of reasonP Bo longs for more "rebels against ths established rule of • "Thn Orifln snd De»velopro«nt of tha Moml 1.« m." by Edward WeutermMck, Ph.D., W. i. London: M_cmill»n snd Co., Ltd.

morality." Jf he had continued! ro study anthropology a littl© longer in Morocco he might have had more than wns good for him, when brigan<ds like Itaiauli held sway there. OCCASIONAL HINTS OF A TRUER THEORY. His theory does not ro deep enough. Ho canfi!M>s the medium of moral principle with its origin and (standard, hmotion gives the working force to morality -in th* man of mankind; but tho lew lenders of thought and life, who mould it and give it its vo'ctie and standnid, 'listen to the voice of reason," and work ont tho problem whether it w ill conduce to the general good of the community. In primitive societies these wise men axe the patriareln, leaders, or chiefs. lv advanced civilisation they are often -the ,wlse thinkers and reformers who rebel against those in power. Tn ultimate analysis then the -moral law is hasM upon reason, tha fores?eing mason of the few wi«e. though wh_n th*s reason has parsed into the «atmci*.phero of public opinion it acquires its driving power in tho mass from emotion ; nnd this emotion has -mvatic force in it. hecause it- has pasted slowly and imperceptibly into men from the spiritu.il atmosphere, and its origin is as wrapt in mystery and oblivion as if it had come jig an instinct from heredity or as <an inspiration from heaven. H«?nce its unquestioned authority, which causes it to fill Kant "with the same awe as the star-spano-led firmament." iiJ? l,r antncr -n- 39 glimpses of this The supremo authority assigned to the moral law is not altewthe.r an illusion. It really exists in tho minds of the best." There is a feeling abroad that moral character is more valuable than all other excellences. Tin's "is ultimately traceable to some great teacher, whose own mind was ruled by the idenl. of mr.nl perfection." Again at the end of the fourth chapter:--' Almost insennrable from the moral judgments which we pass on our own conduct seems to bo the imago of an impartial outsider, -ciZ a i Ct L as onr ■i^K O ;" an d in the nfth, the evolution of the moral consciousness involves a progress, which ia in no small degree effected by the efforts of high-minded individuals to raise public opinion to. their own standard of right." But he is wedded to the theory with which he started, and usually lapses from this point of view. On the whole, the earlier part of the volume is the less successful, in epite of four admirtthlo chapters on motive and responsibility, worthy of perusal hy every lawyer, judge and legislator. For this part deals ih tho subtle analysis of the metaphysician, and its style fails so often in the proper emphasis that sentences have to be read again andy again in order to catch their true meaning. A BETTER METHOD. Ft is the latter part of the volume that is not offlv tne more valuable, but tho more interesting. In it ho employs the anthropological method, in the use of which he .bowed himself such, on adept in his "History of Human Marriage." The two chapters on "Charity," "Generosity," fnd "Hospitality," though short, are nil and clear. The author, traces all three virtues back to egoistic sources: in the ■ narrow spheres of primitive man the giver to-day may he the necessitous to-morrow, and the host of this year may have to be the guest of ueaxt. Nothing impresses the visitor fcfi the South Ses; Islands, c\ en at tips late date, so much as* the-" constant practice of theae virtfceaV ... lo some of the -groups, ai in Tonga and Samoa, life seems i to be a perpetual 'round of visits and gifts. Rarely does a day pass, in Samoa without seeing some great picnic setting out, generally y boat,"" to take of the hospitality of distant ' villages, and gifts (alofa, a word meaning love, tha commonest on the lips of a Samoan) are an essential feature of daily ljfe: no stranger, no guest, •comis.ox departs without an exchange of alofa. The custom belongs to _ pre-oommercial age and state of societf— is, in fact, th 6 embryonio stage ox barter, when values are unfixed ptid fluctuating, and thera is no currency. .The almost universal custom of hospitality in primitive ages and peoples was due to the absent of and. thero is an Intermingling of cause and effect in'the decay df this virtue*, and the growth of poor laws. A drought, and consequent failure of the yam, banana, and cocoaarat, crops in Tonga tahu formed the explanation given of huge migrations of Tongans on board the inter-island steamers last winter to their relatives farther north, whither tlie drought 'had*"not extended, and those of us .who passed our childhood in rural parts of Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century,, will remember the regular visits of beggars at stated times of the year. Our own sundowner plague is the outcome of the pre-hostelry and pi*>poor-law | stags of a new country. | Dr. W T estermarck traces the lntenI sity and persistence, if not the origin, of these Virtues in .earlier and simpler l tim« to their connection with religious feelings. The curses -and blessings ef the poor are supposed to have espet'ial efficacy; and almsgiving and sacrifice are intimately related; for in many religions the food from ithe altar was to the needy. Ono of his most interesting investigations is the proof of the influence of religion on hospitality. The stranger in a primitive world comes from -the unknown a*id mysterious, and ho is thought to'have a marvellous potency for good or evil. lnia is expressed in so advanced a religion as that of the Epistle to the Hebrews. -Be not forgetful , to entert-un strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. No less , powerful is the early feeling that the _ strangers cureo as well as his blessing has. great efficacy, and that ho may bring ill-luck as well as -good-luck. The decay of this Old World virtue has been rapid in recent times, and is bound to accelerate. For commerce and travel habituate even the most primitive to the sight of strangers and remove the mystery, the increase of intercourse has'made hospitality an intolerable ! burden, whilst the increase of inns has I made it superfluous, and as a ""rtue becomes more extensive it ia bound to grow lesss intensive. HISTORY OP THE STATFB OF CHILDREN, WOMEN AND SLAVES. The l._ftt threo chapters on the "Subjection of Children," the "Subjection of Women," and ■■Slavery," are still fuller and more interesting. One of the singular facts brought out about the first is that children are freest in the most primitive peoples and the most advanceod. In semi-ciyilised peoples and the peoples of archaic culture. Kke <the Chinese, Mexican* and Peruvians, the paternal authority n most binding. The reason is tiat in the earlier stages tihe growth of the clan or tiibe interferes with the power of the family. When the tribes coalesce into stages and nations, the central authority tends to low-ar the dan tie, and thus to r-w> the patriarohatt again. But at last in the moro modern and dei mocratio states the bond is loosened, as

politics creep into fh» family circle, and the emancipation of potential citizens becomes earlier and earlier. But perhaps the most powerful forces in modern times are the development of education and the early break-up of the homo by the facility of travel and migration that -commerce and the mobility of modem industry breed. The same forces have tended in eour commercial and industrial era to emancipate women, and especially in new countries like America and tJws British colonies, whore her position as helpmate is more necessary and more assured, and whither many of the old superstitions and traditional customs would not troirepl&nt. Our author grants that economio conditions greatly influence her status. As a rule* in hunting and pastoral tribes it is depressed; for I there the main occupations, war and j the. pr.ociifoment of tood supplies, are j out of her sphere. Amongst agricultural peopks, cspeecially the primitively ! agricultural, it is much moro independent, for agriculture gr©w out of the collce-tinn of f-xvxLs, berries and rcots [ for food, which was in tho early househeld one of her special occupations; whore, rs in ird-inds and on coastal archipelagoes, fishing is added, her position is iissured, for this occupation is not beyond ht*r capacity. The common m-.xini that her treatment is a gauge of th? culture of a* people he largely discounts- He shows that it is far better as a rule in savagery ond barbarism than in archaic culture, and that the great religions, Confucianism, Brahmanism. Buddhism. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have greatly depressed her status, whilst the. growth of culture in civilised nations hns, up till our own era, wid<\ned the gulf Wtwoeai tho sexes in education and capacity, and thus degraded her. But these anomalies can be explained; almost .all regions have crunted her unclean, because of her Eh ysiological peculiarities, and so shut ?f out from priestly functions. Christiaenity no lffis than the others has insisted in all ages on her inferiority. Her degradation in archaic and Oriental civilisations is doubtless due to the importance of cattle-rearing in their a{*xiculture, based on the oM hunting and pastoral occupations, and demond--ing as it did the application of masculine thews and sinews. Our author pointe ©nt how she has a higher position and better treatment in Japan than ■jin any other Oriental country, but loaves it unexplaineed; it is doubtless due to the absence of cattle from the agriculture of this insular people. On the whole, then, the modern movement for her emancipation is on efficient lines; it aims at her •admiesioiw'to men's education and nren's employments. Our author's chapter on slavery, though brief for such a subject, is thorough ajid philosophical. He . shows that the institution is based on economical conditions: nomadic peoples, hunting or pastoral, have mo nse for it and no conditions to secure it; nor have they got it, unless the proximity of an inferior and prolific* people has developed a elave-trado of long standing. Fishing and agricultural peoples, as occupying fixed abedes, have generally got ft. Indaistrialism, laying stress as it -does on the intensity of labour, eschews it; slave labour would never pay in workshop.*.; and commerce with its demand for high intelligOTKje. has no use for it. Religion favours it and enforces it where it exists; Christianity from its earliest times took it under its wing; and the church was the la-st owner -of slaves and «?i-fs in Europe to free them, and it did so with |the greatest It djd more than any ether influence to stfpport and render ncrma lvent negro slavery in the United .State* and the British colonies. And it was racial distinction and prejudice \h&t made this tbe most cruel form of thc institution that tho world has ever seen. HOMICIDE, ITS FORMS AND HISTORY. The most elaborate treatment in the volume is given to homicide in. its various forms. It is too elaboraite to convoy any idea of its thoroughners in a section of an article. Tiro author's general aim seems to be to prove, a olose econnection between permissible homicide and primitive ireligiops feelings. Ho shows satisfactorily tliat this connection exists when the punishVnenb is meant te bo retaliation for homicide The blood of the slain man cries for venegnnoe. And tliere mingles with this the idea that bloodfniltiness is unclean., and needs purication by sacrifice. But this idea leads him into what seems a contradiction. Be seems occasionally to conaider capital punish-memt a form 'of human aacrifice. Yet it is clear from his examples that primitive societies use death treely ns a penalty for yari-ou-s offences, such as treason, witchcraft, theft. Now he accepts it as proven that human saorifiop does not appear in savagery, but when men have reached barbarism or semi-civili-sation. It is difficult then to see ,Jiow capital punishment, the earlier phenomenon, can originate in human, sacrifice, the later. The more correct stutement seems to be that punishment originates in ther resenttaant that is natural not only to man but to animals, and takes, in the earliest codes, the form of the lex talionis, or "ait eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"; whifat human sacrifice has a close connection with anoestor-worship; tho dead are omnipresent to the primitive mind, and the fear of their mysterious existence drives early man into extraordinary religions practices; tih»y need attendants," slaves, wives; they need blood to take away the shadowiness and feebleness of their new life; they may bring bad crops, illluck, accidents, sickness, death, if not appeased, and what else will appease, them but the sacrifice df . men like themselves? As civilisation grows with its esense of human pity And marcy for the living, substitute! are found in animals and in images. There are clear proo-fo in folk-lore that all peoples, including our Teutonic ancestor's, as well as all Semitic oeoples, indulged in human, sacrifice down to a late prehistoric, if not historic, period. So onr author indicates that our forefathers killed off the old and he quotes an old English tradition, of "the Holy Mawle, which they fancy hung behind the church door, which, when the father was seaventie, tho sonne might fetch to knock his father in the head as effete and of no more use.'* Parricide was by no means con-fined to the Fijians; and abandonment of the sick was as -widespread. Both customs were due to the privations of primitive life, especially nomadic life, with the idea in parricide that the life beyond began on the same plane and with the same store of enejigy as marked the laist stage of this life, and in the case of the sick that death pollutes the house in whiec-h it occurs. The wide prevalence of infanticide and feticide is due to a similar cause, though these helot-, to advanced barbarians and early civilisations rather than to primitive savages. The wife cannot accompany her husband and his tribe, if she is hampered by babes; and the long period of suckling among peoples that have no milk-giving stock or soft foods drives her to suppress the powerful maternal instinct through fear -that her husband will -desert ber fur other women. DEFECTS OF THE COMMON ANTHROPOLOGICAL METHOD. But it would he diSoult to give in an article any idea -flf the numerous interesting and suggestive lines theee chapters take. That they do not reach finality is clear. For the anthropological method applied in this broad way cannot well be scientifically efficient. Odd scrape and examples are collected from the most varied authorities, voyagers, taravellere, *nb»ianarres, historians, few or npne of them trained to observe accurately, mast of tkectn with preconceived ideas from their civilisation or religion that tend to

.vitiate their reports; and th<sse in-j etanccs are drawn-from all types of en--vironment and all stages of development ; and they are given without any of th© conditioning that is essential to explain their meaning- That some selection and classification are needed our author becomes now and again conscious, especially when he has to controvert the concfusioas of McLennan, or Lubbock, or Fraser; then he looks up the authorities for tbo examples and shows that the context or the environment gives them a diffcrrent colour. Had he extended the criticism and eondifvoning tg his own instances he might have come to other conclusions. If the anthropologists are to reach scientific results, they must d«al with a single people or race or section of mankind; for there alone can *hey bring tojsether and view the whole mass of the culture. Tbe collection and classification of scraps from the vast literature of ethnology demand great industry and result in a museumlike set of striking contrasts that appeal to the modern reading annetite, fed as it is on th© varied far© of journalism ; but it will often fail lo elicit new or trustworthy scientific truth.