Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 31.djvu/580

564 artificial morality of supernatural theology; 2. The unwarranted elevation of institutions above the individual; 3. The notion that social ends are more perfectly realized through the concentration of power in organizations; and, finally, the formation and retention of egoistic ideals of life.

In the section on "The Great Theological Superstition," Mr. Thompson criticises unsparingly, but in no dogmatic tone, the theological doctrine of sin. The idea that there can be a sin against God other than a violation of the rights and happiness of individual men, is found to be untrue, immoral in its implications and results—one of the chief obstacles, indeed, to human progress. Man's "sin against God, if it exist, is in his sin against his fellows"; in other words, theological sin, per se, is a fiction of the imagination; the only reality which can answer in any way to this conception is natural moral evil. Incidentally Mr. Thompson condemns the laws against blasphemy, the exercise of temporal power by the Church, the Pharisaical self-righteousness which he conceives to be the outcome of theological supernaturalism, the "baleful dogma" of eternal punishment, and the mystical conception of "spirituality," as something other than simple goodness, stimulating men to altruistic endeavor.

In the section on "The Institutional Fetich," a rational individualism is maintained as a higher ethical ideal than that which sinks the individual in the mass, and emphasizes institutions at the expense of personal liberties. "Man is the measure of all things." Institutions are made for man, not man for institutions. Authority must give way to the right of private judgment. The doctrine that "the family, the state, the Church, exist superior to any considerations of utility," must be condemned as inimical to the highest development of human character, and as an obstacle to the moral advancement of the race. The principle of authority in the family has resulted in the degradation of woman and the ignoring of the rights of children. "The husband owes to the wife just as many duties as she to him." "Children are to be worked for as human beings having their own independent ends, which are to be respected." "The doctrine of authority has been from the beginning, and is to-day, a stumbling-block in the way of woman's liberty and advancement."—These sentences strike the key-note of Mr. Thompson's liberal and humane treatment of these important social problems, which we can only thus briefly outline within the limits of this review. The divine authority and perfect character of the state is of course condemned as an irrational dogma. The right to agitate against an existing social order is strenuously affirmed. "Any system which does not permit the title of a governing power to be questioned by the governed, in the light of what is best for the general happiness, is a system of rule by force and fear, disguise it as you may under high-sounding phrases, as 'inherent sacredness,' or 'divine authority.'"

Under the head of "The Socialistic Fallacy," the questions of the "Co-operative Idea," "Socialism," "The Political Party," "Industrial Co-operation," are treated with great clearness and in an admirable spirit, as the reader will agree, even if he does not find himself wholly in accord with our author's conclusions. He cries "Halt!" to the active socialistic tendencies of our time, believing that they must ultimate, if successful, in an increase of egoism and restriction of individual liberty, which would be fatal to the highest ethical advancement of the race. Not in individualism, but in egoism, he affirms, is to be found the most serious obstacle to our moral progress.

Finally, the root of existing moral evil is found in the continued elevation of the egoistic ideal as an incentive to human action. War and the militant system are condemned as outgrowths and perpetuators of this ideal. The injustices and immoralities of our industrial system are referred to the predominance of egoism in our industrial methods; and the relief for all these social evils is indicated in the two rules:

1. "Aim at the minimum of extrinsic restraint, and the maximum of liberty for the individual."

2. "Aim at the most complete and universal development of the altruistic character."

While Mr. Thompson is in general accord with the English utilitarian school of philosophy, he is evidently an independent and original thinker—no mere servile