Show TH THE THC r MOR MORAL L SENSE SENSE- THAT there is within civilized man amoral a amoral moral sense a set set of well-developed well mo moral intuition which impel him to seek the right and shun the wrong without without without with with- out regard reg-ard to any utilitarian considerations or without any reference to feelings feelings feelings feel feel- ings of pleasure and pain this pain this is admitted by all writers scientific and otherwise That these conceptions of justice and honor these ethical emotions are incapable of analysis into simpler el elements ments depending on a physical cause is also admitted But all writers are not agreed as to the origin of this moral sense The theory that mans man's present physical cal nature is the result of a long series of evolutionary changes has been apparently apparently ap ap- well established by such master master master mas mas- ter minds as Darwin Spencer Fiske and Huxley The same writers maintain that mans man's intellectual and moral nature has arisen in the same way They assert that there is an inseparable connection between the successive e chan changes es from lower to higher forms forns in animal life and the gr gradual dual rise of the moral feelings Itis Itis It Itis is held that just as natural selection can account for the gradual massing of the physical attributes possessed by the highest mammal so will it show that long ago among the brute ancestors of our race those impulses most tending toward ethical conduct were preserved while the more brutal instincts were were gradually suppressed till at the occasion occasion occasion occa occa- sion of two contending impulses one good the other bad the judgment was made from which could be evolved all of OUr ur exalted concepts of ri right ht and wrong It t is ft further asserted that as the gregarIOUS gregarious gregar- gregar ious IOUS instincts in animals merged into the social instincts the period of infancy in- in f fancy ancy became correspondingly longer An opportunity y was thereby given for fora for a develop development ent of the nervo nervous s system sufficiently complex to make possible the subsequent me mental activities It is not the the purpose e of f this his paper to to discuss the these theories for even v n physical evolution is not claimed to be anything more than a good working theory As Asto Asto to the development of pf the human mind from the animal the position taken by evolutionists is highly untenable They point with confidence t to the fact that there is greater disparity between the mind of civilized man and the savage mind than there is between the savage mind and the instincts of animals Th This s is false when considered from from the standpoint of capabilities It is said that savages can conceive of number number number num num- ber no greater than five while horses can understand greater combinations Itis It Itis Itis is said that some men even in highly I tr civilized know nothing of music while birds can remember and reproduce tunes which they hear It is further contended that the brain of the thes s savage savage vage is more like the brain of an ape than it is like the brain of civilized man Without attempting to refute these arguments arguments arguments ments we would say simply consider the capabilities A savage can be taught to speak sing think reason and grasp the keenest moral differences Who is willing to believe that the animal animal ani ani- mal mind could ever evolve a sufficiently to calculate the distance distan to the sun So it can be asserted without fear of successful contradiction that the animal mind could develop into the human mind absolutely never So we we prefer to speak of the moral sense as unfolding and then we can apply the l laws of habit and inaction just justas as they are applied to the other J i j ties Tracing back the idea of right even to the first simple judgment either I in the child or in the race we would say that there must have been present the inherent power to make that distinction Just as the argument was brought t against Locks Lock's doctrine of sensationalism sensational sensational- ism that trat if the mind at first were a total blank no impression could be bee bek k e made ade upon it and no development could ever ensue so we say that if there were not present within every human being the power to comprehend i ii right and wrong the first ethical judgment judgment judgment judg judg- ment could never be made Taking this view of the moral sense the tracing of the different epochs in its r. r development b becomes comes less difficult the theM M underlying principles become much less complex We will not have to consider the functional development of the human being at all It will be sufficient for our purpose to confine ourselves to the history of the human family as far as we know it The moral sense will be placed upon the same basis as the other faculties of the human soul The idea of ultimate conscience will be perfectly valid though it too will be subject to the same laws having the same relation to heredity and controlled by the former experiences of the race just as we consider the general intelligence to be M Man an d differs rs from all other forms of v creation in that he is a social being He lived in tribes or clans when history began to record his doings His only duty was to his tribe His first allegiance allegiance allegiance alle alle- was to his chief Indi Individual safety depended upon the well-being well of the tribe Whatever furthered the fortunes fortunes fortunes for for- tunes of the tribe was right so that the 4 sense of justice did not extend beyond the welfare of the tribe Sympathy for anything tribal extra-tribal seems to have been very slight Responsibility for all of the acts of the tribe was shouldered shouldered shouldered should should- ered by the chief and the individual lit litt t was required to render absolute obed- obed ra t ts s ij to an external authority In such sucha a state of corporate responsibility there would be little need for the individual to exercise any moral judgment though he probably did share shale in the feelings of revenge as many savage nations made madea a practice of killing anything without the tribe for the sake of tribal vengeance In time at the occasion of a conflict of clans slaves were taken or compromises compromises compromises compro compro- were effected by which members of different tribes would be compelled to live together When states were formed greater opportunity for intercourse intercourse intercourse inter inter- course would be furnished and individuals individuals individuals duals would be compelled to judge their actions from their own standpoint Thus individual consciousness arose When people began to live together on ona ona ona a more or less equal footing public opinion beg began n to be a factor in shaping their acts would thus give way to cosmopolitanism Individualism would evolve from socialism Another stage of altruism a higher and nobler kind would begin to develop An internal internal internal inter inter- j i nal authority that within the individual individual individual j dual would begin to exert an influence on the actions of the best members of the community Men began to seek the approbation of their fellows and the moral plane became correspondingly correspondingly correspondingly correspond correspond- higher Now human development will not always be continuously forward Stages of moral growth will not progress con con- History shows that society in general has taken many backward moves there then have been slides and avalanches backward History also shows that the best in human societies does not always survive at least Bad institutions flourish for a along along along long time bad men rule indefinitely the most unfit in nature often subdues that apparently best fitted for perpetua perpetua- tion There can be no doubt that at times the world has been on a a higher plane morally at least than in succeed- succeed 4 r ing generations There ha have ve been periods if adjustment facts to ends counts W when hen anything the world was in In better f for 0 r condition than it was centuries later These observations are valuable as they show that human society in its higher stages at least is governed by bylaws bylaws bylaws laws not altogether in harmony with our ideas of the principle of natural tion Nations fall and degenerate governments crumble to ruin peoples decay men sink from exalted stations into vice and corruption Often the good falls with them and the course over which they traveled has to be followed again These things are mentioned mentioned men men- l in order to form a basis for this assertion it is just as easy to o find degenerated degenerated det de de- t generated forms of life as it is to find evolved forms and then we can say that there are other laws than evolution r operating in the history of mankind As with the race so with the indi vit vi- vi t du dual l. l The individual exemplifies the therace therace race in many ways and the general f. f course of history finds an epitome in his actions And here may be stated the connection which the laws of heredity habit association and social conditions have upon the development of the moral being There is no doubt that acquired habits are transmitted from one generation genera generation genera genera- tion to another that human thoughts feelings characteristics do indeed owe much to past conditions So the actions actions actions ac ac- of every person are traceable and partly never wholly to his ancestral and individual environments There must be taken into consideration an inner moral cause and an outer moral cause Then in looking for principles principles principles prin prin- which govern the development of the moral sense or in seeking for the cause of any distinct condition or manifestation manifestation manifestation mani mani- either individually or socially we must always understand that both his history ory and heredity are prime factors Let us consider the child He begins his development as the race began by 14 ar 1 aim Y yielding elding obedience to external authority In a l following stage he begins hegins to co copy N i and imitate his surroundings Following Following Follow Follow- t j w ing mg this he begins egins to acquire his own i ideas and nd form his own judgments He y may then overrule the earlier copied I h forms but the effect of his early training training train train- i i ing Ing- WI will II a always 1 ways remain Individual experience experience ex ex- must always be the most most i powerful element in his growth out Dut the x arbitrary impressions will never be erased Continuing in this line we will ill find that from th the first dawn of conscience there will be conflicts between between be be- tween opposite impulses some leading 1 r to self gratification and the injury of others will have to be suppressed He r will learn learh from experience the effects of right and wrong Sympathy will appear J Jearly early in life and so will the conception of and Some actions justice right he es 4 will find produce injury pain unhappiness unhappiness 14 r ness and regret some give pleasure by but leave sorrow Yielding to certain desires will always result in misery 1 L. L fl J He may gratify a wish or an appetite because there is a pleasing sensation J accompanying it he may give up to an 1 im impulse pulse arising from his own experience experience exper exper- f m mience or from some remote cause in the r ancestral line but if the st stated ted action r j t implies an injurious consequence its I ti ca effect will remain long after the desire A which prompted it or the pleasure i which accompanied it has ceased to J exist Then the regret will operate to prevent a repetition of the act The 1 effect however may not be immediate in which case a succeeding generation WI will 11 h have ave t to 0 f face ace I it t It is a fact of pervading all-pervading importance import import- j ance that Nature never fails to visit the fi consequences of each and every act performed performed per per- f formed in her d domain main She She is unrelenting unrelenting j ing in her devotion to justice mercy is IS I p P.- P. unknown to her effect never ceases until 1 I J the last farthing is paid Enduring I then the of any act U as consequences consequences always are ample opportunity is IS is given glyen rRy 1 11 VY j t HF 1 j for the individual to satisfy himself as asto asto to the ethical status of his acts Suppose Suppose Suppose Sup Sup- pose that two impulses contend A Aman Aman Aman man yields to the baser one After the glamour of deceptive pleasure has passed away a strange feeling of dissatisfaction dissatisfaction dissatisfaction arises within him After the b nerve centers have discharged their 01 energy further pleasure is IS out of the ther thet r t question then regret will predominate F above the recollection of pleasure overbalance It may be strong enough to ov overbalance k ance any desire for furher indulgence y Recurring regrets will continue to predominate predominate prey pret pre pre- t dominate over impulsive desi desires es Thus the selfishness of the man will be replaced replaced replaced re re- placed by a desire to be in harmony 5 with the best around him Baser in instincts int in- in t will be crushed and he merges into the field of intellectual and moral 1 freedom r r How grand then is the human in intel intellect intellect tel lect How sublime to contemplate the future of the soul Who shall say that life is not worth living The very fact that life is only a succession of desper- desper are struggles for moral victory is enough to inspire the noble heart That we weY Y have within us those things which must be conquered and around us that which I. I must st be subdued should only engender hope and satisfaction within a manly breast The mind may be likened to a sheet of highly-glazed highly paper paper a a crease or break can never be repaired j i an impression impression impression sion can never be removed But yet we can always be reconciled by the assurance assurance assurance assur assur- 4 ance that the fold of honor ma may may always be made deepest so deep that all others will sink into oblivion We may always keep uppermost the highest and noblest J of all aims the desire to obtain an in individual individual individual in- in sanction a personal satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction tion our own conscious approval of i every act in in life t A. A T. T Ridges tor |