Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/110

Rh What are the means by which these ends shall be accomplished? Shall we rely solely upon our supposed consciousness of what is right and what is wrong, and let moral teaching consist simply of appeals for obedience to the dictates of conscience? That which is termed conscience is, in a large degree at least, a matter of inherited tendencies, education, and intellectual development, and varies with the individual, his surroundings, and the age in which he lives.

That which seems right to the mind of one man often seems wrong when presented to the intelligent judgment of other men. The conscience of the average member of a civilized community differs widely from the conscience of the average member of a savage tribe. To the American Indian, revenge is a virtue; to the Quaker, revenge is a crime. To Gautama, to Jesus of Nazareth, and to their ascetic disciples, the total rejection of personal interest or advancement absolute unselfishness and self-abnegation, unlimited benevolence, and an entire absence of the desire or habit of self-protection—were the greatest virtues and most obligatory duties.

On the other hand, the constitutions of all civilized governments, whether written or unwritten, the principles of the civil as well as those of the common law, and the teachings of wise men of ancient and of modern times, recognize as a duty the protection of individual or selfish interests. They recognize as just and necessary the restraint and punishment of wrong-doers, and the protection of the rights and interests of the individual in person and property. Educated to look upon these and kindred principles as embodying correct rules of conduct, we view with approval the resistance of oppression and injustice, and even the spirit which resents and punishes insult.

There can be no doubt that these are conflicting views of duty, but both extremes have been honestly maintained, and still are in some degree. It hardly admits of a doubt that men of pure motives and good intentions have committed acts of cruelty and inhumanity in the belief that they were simply discharging duties—perchance religious duties.

All these things point to the fallibility of human judgment regarding standards of duty, and the imperfect development of ideas of right and wrong. They furnish no excuse, however, for drifting through life without an attempt to investigate or discover the principles of the science of duty, or for neglecting to govern our actions by those principles, so far as we may be able to recognize them.

With the waning and crumbling of a faith in any books or records as containing absolute or inspired standards of duty, the study of the science and data of ethics should, it would seem, become one of greater interest and attention than ever before.

Whether we regard the ability to distinguish between right and wrong conduct as in a great degree inherent in the human mind, or as having arisen in the course of the evolution of the race, as a sense