The Principles of Ethics: In Two Volumes

12. Temperance

Ethics_V1_451-500.indd 17 1/16/12 9:32 AM CHAPTER 12 Temperance 173. suchethical, or rather proethical, sentiments as attach to temperance, have primarily, like sundry of the associated proethical sentiments, religious origins. As shown in The Principles ofSociology, section140, the bearing of hunger becomes in many cases a virtue, because it is a sequence of leaving food for the ancestor, and, at a later stage, sacrificing food to the god. Where food is not abundant, relinquishments of it involve either absolute fastings or stinted meals; and hence there arises an association in thought between moderation in eating and a subordination which is either religious or quasi-religious. Possibly in some cases a kindred restraint is put on the drinking of liquors which are used as libations, since the quantities required for these also, restrict the quantities remaining for the sacrificers. If, as often happens, there is at every meal a throwing aside of drink, as well as food, for the invisible beings around, it tends to become an implication that one who exceeds so far as to become intoxicated, has disregarded these invisible beings, and is therefore to be blamed. It is true that, as we shall presently see, other ideas sometimes lead to contrary beliefs and sentiments; but it is possible that there may from this cause have originated the divine reprobation which is in some cases alleged. 467 Ethics_V1_451-500.indd 18 1/16/12 9:32 AM 468 The Inductions of Ethics Since the above paragraphs were written, I have found clear proof that the suspicion they express is well founded. From a people among whom ancestor-worship, and the habitual sacrificing to ancestors, have been through all known ages zealously carried on, we get evidence that moderation in both food and drink, pushed even to asceticism, is a consequence of regard for the dead, to whom oblations are constantly made. Said Confucius: "He who aims to be a man of complete virtue, in his food does not seek to gratify his appetite." Here we haye the virtue enunciated apart from its cause. But Confucius also said: "I can find no flaw in the character of Yu. He used himself coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost filial piety towards the spirits. His ordinary garments were poor, but he displayed the utmost elegance in his sacrificial cap and apron." Here we have the virtue presented in connection with religious duty: the last being the cause, the first the consequence. Considered apart from supposed religious sanction, the virtue of temperance can of course have no other sanction than utility, as determined by experience. The observed beneficial effects of moderation and the observed detrimental effects of excess, form the bases for judgments, and the accompanying feelings. Rational ideas concerning temperance-especially temperance in food--cannot be formed until we have glanced at those variations in the physiological requirements, entailed by variations in surrounding circumstances. 174. What would among ourselves be condemned as disgusting gluttony, is, under the conditions to which certain races of men are exposed, quite normal and indeed necessary. Where the habitat is such as at one time to supply very little food and at another time food in great abundance, survival depends on the ability to consume immense quantities when the opportunities occur. A good instance is furnished by Sir George Grey's account of the orgies which follow the stranding of a whale in Australia. Ethics_V1_451-500.indd 19 1/16/12 9:32 AM Temperance 469 By and by other natives came gaily trooping in from all quarters: by night they dance and sing, and by day they eat and sleep, and for days this revelry continues unchecked, until they at last fairly eat their way into the whale, and you see them climbing in and about the stinking carcase choosing titbits ... they remain by the carcase for many days, rubbed from head to foot with stinking blubber, gorged to repletion with putrid meat. ... When they at last quit their feast, they carry off as much as they can stagger under. Living as the Australians do in a barren country, and often half starved, those of their number who could not fully utilize an occasion like this would be the first to die during times of famine. Proof that this is the true interpretation, is furnished by Christison's account of a tribe of central Queensland. They are great...