A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of EvolutionWilliams, Cora May
Philosophy
A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution
Williams, Cora May
Ethics, Evolutionary
In order of priority, the law of relation between conduct and
consequence, the principle that each individual ought to receive the
good and evil resulting from his own nature, stands first; it is the
primary law holding of all creatures. The law of the restraint, in
gregarious animals, of interfering acts, is second in time and
authority, and is simply a specification of the form which the primary
law takes under conditions of gregarious life, since, in asserting
restriction of the interactions of conduct and consequence, it tacitly
reasserts that these interactions must be maintained in other
individuals, that is, in all individuals. The third law, of the
occasional sacrifice of individuals to their kind, is later and narrower
in application, and a qualification of the first law. The first law is
absolute for animals in general; the second is absolute for gregarious
animals; but the third "is relative to the existence of enemies of such
kinds that, in contending with them, the species gains more than it
loses by the sacrifice of a few members; and in the absence of such
enemies this qualification imposed by the third law disappears."
As human life is a development of sub-human life, so human justice is a
development of sub-human justice. According to pure justice, the
individual should suffer the consequences of his acts, and that such is
the general opinion is implied in such common expressions as: "He has no
one to blame but himself"; "He has made his own bed, and now he must lie
on it"; "He has got no more than he deserved"; or, "He has fairly earned
his reward."
The truth that, with higher organization, danger from accident becomes
less, longevity is greater, and so differences count for more, showing
their effects for longer periods, and justice therefore becomes greater,
applies also to human beings. The rate of mortality decreases with man,
and according to his civilization.
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