What is the use of principles in Ethics? They facilitate the knowledge and performance of human duties. To what may a first principle be compared? To a standard which, as it were, ought to lead us on in the path of virtue. Several such principles have been devised by the teachers of moral philosphy. Some of them here are stated : I. 2. 3. ness Promote your own welfare, and that of your fellow creatures. Seek after happiness by dint of virtue. (The term "happi- 5., Act always in such a manner that your conduct could become the law for all intellectual creatures. 6. Seek after virtue and justice. 7. Try to become useful to yourself and to others. 8. Act always according to Nature's laws. 9. IO. Act according to your perfect conviction of right. Act in accordance with the voice of Reason and Conscience, as far as both these faculties are developed and cultivated. "Make Reason thy guide."-Solon, 638 a. C. On the last principle it must be remarked that there also is an erroneous, a narrow and lax, a dead conscience. Conscience among different nations permits many actions which are condemned before the tribunal of pure morality. So e. g. savage nations don't consider theft a crime. Among Arabs it is a common practice to rob and ransack travelers. In Turkey, China, and Hindoostan, polygamy rules without causing any scandal. The higher castes in Europe and America consider the duel a matter of honor. On several islands of the Pacific the custom is in vogue of killing old people, even one's own parents, in order to get rid of them. In this way rude people always have acted. Jews, Mohammedans and Christians believed that it was a kind of divine service to exterminate Infidels-as they called their religious antagonists—with fire and sword. Moses and David did not feel any remorse,—the former, when he had ordered to cut down 3,000 Israelites as an ex piatory sacrifice to the Lord; the latter, when he put the inhabitants of the conquered town Rubba under iron saws and choppers, and burned them in brick-kilns (II. Sam., 12-31). The Carthagenians, Phenicians, and Persians were not at all deterred by their conscience from burning alive their own children as sacrifices, etc. Again, men have in different times and countries diverse notions of right and wrong, according as their reason is rude or cultivated. Is there in man anything like innate conscience? No! Conscience is the product of education, built up by the lives of millions of men, resting in the bottom of humanity. How far, then, can Reason and Conscience be supreme legislators for our conduct? Only as far as they, like other faculties of the mind, have been developed and cultivated. By what means are they developed and cultivated? By domestic education, by the instruction of the school, by experience, etc. Other principles, upon which the precepts of the single divisions of Ethics rest, will be presented in their proper place. § 5. Division of Ethics. How are duties divided? In order to facilitate the review of the great number of the ethical precepts, duties usually are divided into two branches, into duties: First, towards ourselves (personal duties); and second, in duties towards other persons. How are these duties of the second class subdivided? Into duties: First, of Benevolence (Humanity); and secondly, duties of Justice. What kind of duties form the contents of Morals in the stricter sense of the word? The duties towards ourselves, and the duties of benevolence. Can the Divine will also be a first principle of Ethics? No; for History proves that people often believe or pretend the suggestions of their passions to be God's will. (Cf. Hist. of the Rel, 16.) Moreover, we do not know by experience any other will than that of man. What duties form the contents of the doctrine of Justice? The duties of Justice. To those two parts of duties often the duties towards God and animals are added. The duties towards God cannot here be considered, because many persons do not believe in the existence of an individual which they call God, though they acknowledge the obligation of moral laws. CHAPTER FIRST. ETHICS (in the Stricter Sense). I. Duties Towards Ourselves (Personal Duties.) § 6. First Principles. I. Endeavor to make yourself happy. 2. Endeavor to preserve yourself. What impulse of human nature is the strongest ? The impulse of self-preservation. 4. Seek after perfection. Cultivate the faculties of your body, intellect and mind har moniously. 5. Let this be your device: A sound mind in a sound body! Advance with the Time! 6. $ 7. General Duties Towards Ourselves. I. Love yourself! What does it mean to love ourselves? To love ourselves means to look for everything which is useful to us, and to keep off everything which is noxious to us. Why ought we to love ourselves? Because thereby we obey the instincts of our nature (cf. views of the Univ., § II). 2. Respect yourself. Why ought every body to respect himself? Because man is elevated far above the other creatures, and especially because he excels them in his moral faculties, and in his desires for perfection. "Those who respect themselves will be honorable; but he who thinks lightly of himself, will be held cheap by the world."-Chinese Proverb. 3. What should we, therefore, shun? We should shun all follies and vices. Why should we shun them? Because by them we debase ourselves below the animals, hurt the dignity of free rational beings, and therefore act against the respect we owe to ourselves. For what other reason ought we to avoid follies and vices? Because thoy bring about noxious consequences. No folly, no vice remains with impunity. Nature takes vengeance for every trespass on her laws. 4. We should not be proud and haughty. What does pride do? It overrates one's self, and undervalues or despises others. Why should we not be proud? Because all men own the nobility of the same nature, and have the like destination as ourselves. What are the different kinds of pride? Pride of money, of caste, of titles, of scholarship, of art, of priesthood, of beauty (vanity), of virtue, of creed, etc. Why ought we not to be proud of our virtue? Because nobody is quite perfect and without any moral defect, besides no man is entirely the author of his moral excellence. Why not of genius? Because it is a mere gift of Nature. Why not of knowledge and ability? Because modesty is the highest ornament of a true scholar and artist. Why not of money and property? Money and property do not impart to man an intrinsic value, and are for the most part gifts of Fortune. Why not of beauty? Because it is fading away. What are the sad consequences of pride? Pride makes man ridiculous and odious to others, and he is often humiliated. A proverb says: Pride goes before fall. 5. On the contrary, we ought to be unassuming and modest. What consciousness ought to induce us to be modest? The consciousness that we are yet far from the goal of perfection. SPECIAL DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES. § 8. 1. Duties with Regard to Our Life and Health. I. What is our first duty towards ourselves? To take care of our life and health. For what reason? Because love of life and its sound condition is innate to man; life and health are the groundwork of happiness, and the first condition to attain moral excellence. 2. What duty follows from that of self-preservation ? Our duty to employ all means tending to this purpose. What means are subservient to this purpose? Industry, wholesome articles of subsistence, to which fresh water also belongs, suitable clothing, cleanliness, washings and baths, hardening exercises, rest and sleep, etc. 3. What ought we, therefore, to avoid? Everything which baffles that purpose. What should we avoid in particular? Intemperance in food and drink (gluttony, and propensity to drunkenness), effeminacy, lewdness, foolhardy risks, and the sway of the passions. What evil consequences follow intemperance and voluptuousness? Painful and infamous diseases, contempt, and often also the loss of wealth. 4. What is the counterpart of lewdness? Modesty and chastity. What does chastity require of us? |