The Human Origin of Morals/Chapter VIII

Evolution throws a wonderful light on all the struggles, eccentricities, tortuous developments of the human conscience in the past. It is the only theory of morals that does. And evolution throws just as much light on the ethical and social struggle today; and it is the only theory that does. What a strange age ours is from the religious point of view! What a hopeless age from the philosopher's point of view! Yet it is a very good age, the best that ever was. No evolutionist is a pessimist.

I may assume that even my Fundamentalist readers have heard of one philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. You heard of him first during the war. You may not know that he loathed bloodshed and brawling, and, like Haeckel, heavily criticized the beer-drinking and dueling of German students; but you were convinced that he was responsible for that shocking demoralization of Germany of which you heard so much.

Next you heard of him from William Jennings Bryan and Dr. Riley and whatever preacher you sit under wherever you may be. An appalling murder (with awful details which were never published) was committed by two abnormal boys in Chicago. To save them, Clarence Darrow put the blame on their reading of Nietzsche: not on Nietzsche, as you were assured that this "great scientist" (he was not a scientist at all, but a literary man) and "German" (really of Polish blood) and "Darwinian" (he knew next to nothing about Darwinism), proved that evolution made an end of all morals.

Probably you heard that a Briton named George Bernard Shaw said the same thing; but as he happens to be a fierce anti-Darwinist, he may not have been mentioned. At all events, you will have heard that there was a terrible man in America named Wiggam, who "gave the show away" in the same manner. I could give you a dozen other names.

I have an esteemed friend in England whom I avoid as much as possible. Throughout a long life he has never played cards, never smoked, never tasted beer or wine, never entered a theatre.... How he comes to possess two children is a mystery to me. But he is one of the most ardent Nietzscheans in England.

Strange, isn't it? He is one of the gentlest of men. To tell you the truth, so was Nietzsche. He loathed bloodshed, cruelty, meanness, injustice, hypocrisy, and lies. The sight of all this in the world drove him mad. But he was not mad when he wrote his great works. For the grown man, who can understand them, they are a splendid tonic and inspiration. But he wrote, however, in paradoxes and fiery exaggerations, as high-strung prophets do. And he did make very serious mistakes, as most men did in the infancy of science.

Nietzsche, though not a scientist, heard about Darwin, and misunderstood him. He supposed that Darwin really said what Fundamentalist writers make him say: that all progress depends on a bloody struggle for life, so there must be no mercy or philanthropy. What Darwin said was that in animal evolution, in the remote past, the law (or fact) had been bloody struggle. Darwin never dealt with the laws of human progress, now and in the future. In fact, he expressly defended humanitarianism.

You see the simple mistake of Nietzsche, and of others who do not understand science. He thought that modern society was running counter to the essential laws of life. He thought—this was another great mistake—that Christianity had brought into the world the moral principles which made us help the weak. He thought all this would ruin the race, and so in pure humanitarian zeal he fought morals and he fought Christianity. It is not strictly true that he rejected all moral principle. He was one of the most moral of men. He rejected the current morality as a "slave-morality," and wanted it changed to a higher.

However, you need not worry about Nietzsche. Very few follow him, or ever will follow him, in his errors. You need not worry about your Wiggams. They are, not "advanced," but forty years out of date. You need not worry about G.B. Shaw. He is the only real Shavian, as far as his essential ideas are concerned, in England.

But there is one respect in which these anti-moral writers have the support of a very large number of the most brilliant authors (chiefly novelists and dramatists) of modern times, and it has to be seriously considered. They attack morality. Do not shudder: it does not promote understanding. I know many of these men well. They are men of higher character than you and I. Let us understand it.

When you say "morals," most people think of the generally accepted code as regards sex. That is why they attack morals. They do not admit those sex rules. In other words, instead of the whole educated and refined world being agreed upon the contents of the moral law, as philosophers and theologians say, half the most influential writers and artists of modern times reject what these philosophers and theologians regard as its essential contents: sex-regulations. And, as half or more of the educated and refined people of the modern world prefer these writers to all others, you have a plain indication that moral law in regard to sex is very widely and seriously disputed in some respects.

It is a simple and natural situation. I have described how religion and morals have been blended for tens of thousands of years. We have also seen how, under the influence of religion, ideas got into the moral code which were not original parts of it. Now, in the twentieth century, the world is discarding religion, and it is therefore re-examining its moral code. Are there any elements of it which are purely ecclesiastical in origin? If so, they do not concern us. Are we to follow blindly the code of the Middle Ages?

Nobody does; not even Catholics. We have altered line after line of the moral ideal. Pride is no longer the greatest sin. Asceticism is no longer the greatest virtue. Priestly celibacy will probably be abandoned in the Roman Church. Birth-control is practiced generally by educated clergymen. The serious question is whether "chastity," as such, is another of these ancient errors.

Before you throw up your arms, reflect. It never was observed by the bulk of the community. Rupert Hughes has lately shown that even in the Puritan days in America "vice" was rampant. So do not begin to paint a frightful coming degeneration.

Or, rather, do paint this coming degeneration. Work out the consequences. But do not begin by saying that women and children will not dare to venture out, etc. The police will see to that. The world gets safer for them every decade. Well then. ... You see, when you try to work out the consequences, you come to this conclusion: Many things will be done in violation of Christian law, but those who are not Christians can hardly be expected to observe a purely Christian law. As to any possible social consequences, our principles cover all that. There will still be law.

It is no use your squirming. Social consequences will be attended to by society. Any act which involves injustice or does an injury is, and will remain, immoral. It is as much a part of our law as yours; and we, apparently, get it better observed by pointing out that it is a human and social law. The man who brings trouble upon a woman is guilty of a crime. The husband or wife who stealthily breaks the marriage contract, and expects the other spouse to keep it, flagrantly violates the law of justice.... Yes, I know; many will do it. They always did.

So the evolutionary or social or what is broadly called Utilitarian theory of morals smiles at all these supposed difficulties. Some things will be no longer considered "immoral" which once were thought immoral! as has happened repeatedly. An act that injures no one in any way will be regarded as a man's or woman's own business. Hypocrisy, secret violations of contract, lies—all the things that have accompanied the universal "immorality" of the past—will slowly disappear. It will take time, a very long time. We have inherited a dreadful past. But we are gradually getting more frankness, courage, honorableness, and consideration for others. Out of that dark, abhorrent chaos which we have surveyed a new order is rising: the finer and happier order of Shelley's Prometheus: