The Principles of Ethics: In Two Volumes

1. The Confusion of Ethical Thought

Ethics_V1_301-350.indd 339 1/16/12 9:38 AM CHAPTER 1 The Confusion of Ethical Thought 111. If, in common with other things, human feelings and ideas conform to the general law of evolution, the implication is that the set of conceptions constituting ethics, together with the associated sentiments, arise out of a relatively incoherent and indefinite consciousness; and slowly acquire coherence and definiteness at the same time that the aggregate of them differentiates from the larger aggregate with which it is originally mingled. Long remaining undistinguished , and then but vaguely discernible as something independent , ethics must be expected to acquire a distinct embodiment only when mental evolution has reached a high stage. Hence the present confusion of ethical thought. Total at the outset, it has necessarily continued great during social progress at large, and, though diminished, must be supposed to be still great in our present semicivilized state. Notions of right and wrong, variously derived and changing with every change in social arrangements and activities, form an assemblage which we may conclude is even now in large measure chaotic. Let us contemplate some of the chief factors of the ethical 339 Ethics_V1_301-350.indd 340 1/16/12 9:38 AM 340 The Inductions of Ethics consciousness, and observe the sets of conflicting beliefs and opinions severally resulting from them. 112. Originally, ethics has no existence apart from religion, which holds it in solution. Religion itself, in its earliest form, is undistinguished from ancestor worship. And the propitiations of ancestral ghosts, made for the purpose of avoiding the evils they may inflict and gaining the benefits they may confer , are prompted by prudential considerations like those which guide the ordinary actions of life. "Come and partake of this! Give us maintenance as you did when living!" calls out the innocent Wood-Veddah to the spirit of his relative, when leaving an offering for him; and then, at another time, he expects this spirit to give him success in the chase. A Zulu dreams that his brother's ghost, scolding him and beating him for not sacrificing, says, "I wish for meat"; and then to the reply, "No, my brother, I have no bullock; do you see any in the cattle pen?" the rejoinder is, "Though there be but one, I demand it." The Australian medicine man, eulogizing the dead hunter and listening to replies from the corpse, announces that should he be sufficiently avenged he has promised that "his spirit would not haunt the tribe, nor cause them fear, nor mislead them into wrong tracks, nor bring sickness amongst them, nor make loud noises in the night." Thus is it generally. Savages ascribe their good or ill fortunes to the doubles of the dead whom they have pleased or angered; and, while offering to them food and drink and clothing, promise conformity to their wishes and beg for their help.* When from the first stage, in which only the ghosts of fathers and other relatives are propitiated by the members of each family, we pass to the second stage, in which, along with the rise of an established chieftainship, there arises a special fear of the chief's ghost, there results propitiation of this • For further illustrations, see Principles of Sociology, sees. 142--43, and Ecclesiastical Institutions, sec. 584. Ethics_V1_301-350.indd 341 1/16/12 9:38 AM The Confusion of Ethical Thought 341 also-offerings, eulogies, prayers, promises. If, as warrior or ruler, a powerful man has excited admiration and dread, the anxiety to be on good terms with his still more powerful double is great, and prompts observance of his commands and interdicts. Of course, after many conquests have made him a king, the expressions of subordination to his deified spirit, regarded as omnipotent and terrible, are more pronounced , and submission to his will becomes imperative: the concomitant idea being that right and wrong consist simply in obedience and disobedience to him. All religions exemplify these relations of phenomena. Concerning the Tongans, Mariner says that "Several acts acknowledged by all civilized nations as crimes, are under many circumstances considered by them as matters of indifference," unless they involve disrespect to "the gods, nobles, and aged persons." In his description of certain peoples of the Gold Coast, Major Ellis shows that with them the idea of sin is limited to insults offered to the gods, and to the neglect of the gods. The most...