Page:Philosophical Review Volume 24.djvu/485

No. 4.] it disregards the very notions upon which the latter must be based. It is advantageous, however, to base the moral and social sciences upon some positive, experimental science. Human Biology, the science of man, will answer this purpose. The moral and social sciences are peculiar to man. General Biology, the science of what is common to all living things, does not take account of the characteristics which are peculiar to man and which differentiate him from all other creatures. But Human Biology is concerned with what is peculiarly human, with the specific differences of man as a fixed species, as well as with such features as man holds in common with all other life. Human Biology envisages man as a whole, with due regard for both his psychical and physiological nature, and emphasizes activity and function more than structure. Its method is scientific: positive, experimental, and both objective and subjective. It finds three characteristics peculiar to man and differentiating him from all other species: (1) superiority of intelligence; (2) capacity for indefinite progress in the accumulation and utilization of the discoveries and acquisitions of the past; and (3) freedom, in the sense of rational or self determination. It finds that the laws of human nature and human conduct are quite different, and quite differently presented, from those of animal nature and conduct. It is true that Human Biology cannot give birth to the ideas of duty, merit, good, just, and moral obligation, and that biological laws would not be binding on man unless he were already in possession of these ideas. But Human Biology discovers and verifies these ideas as universal facts or "idées-lois" of human nature. Since human nature is identical with itself at all times and places, it is the duty of every individual to obey the laws of Human Biology, especially the law of protecting, preserving, and enlarging one's life and the life of the species. In this way the two phases of Ethics and Sociology are scientifically built up: the normative portion, anterior and superior to science, though discovered empirically by science, and the practical portion, the direct object of Human Biology. In this way, too, the constant and variable elements of Ethics and Sociology find their place, and a complete science and art of Ethics and Sociology are erected on a scientific foundation. Biological laws and duties have three sanctions: moral, legal, and biological. Biological sanctions are the biological perils to which non-observance of biological duties expose the individual and society. Biological duties (and their corresponding perils) may be classified into four groups: (1) duties of the individual to himself; (2) duties of the individual to other individuals; (3) duties of the individual to society or to the human species; and (4) duties of society or individuals in society to the individual. Human Biology helps to solve moral and social problems by making them scientific questions capable of study and solution by scientific methods. All moral and social sciences, having and wishing to retain a scientific character, are based on the knowledge of biological laws, duties, and perils, as defined and characterized by Human Biology. Human Biology,—which should be as essentially distinguished from Animal Biology as the latter is from Vegetable Biology—affords the moral and social sciences a basis and point of departure,