Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of ContentsLord, John
Philosophy
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14: The New Era: A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents
Lord, John
History
We bring to an end our review of the "Synthetic Philosophy" by pointing
out that the ethical doctrine constituting the culmination of the system
which is set forth in the "Principles of Ethics" is fundamentally a
corrected and elaborated version of the doctrine propounded in "Social
Statics" issued as long ago as 1850. The correspondence between the two
works is shown not only by the coincidence of their constructive
divisions, but also by the agreement of their cardinal ideas. As in the
one, so in the other, Man, in common with lower creatures, is held to be
capable of indefinite change by adaptation to conditions. In both he is
regarded as undergoing transformation from a nature appropriate to his
aboriginal wild life, to a nature appropriate to a settled civilized
life; and in both this transformation is described as a moulding into a
form fitted for harmonious co-operation. In both works, too, this
moulding is said to be effected by the repression of certain primitive
traits no longer needed, and the development of needful traits. As in
the first work, so in this last, the great factor in the progressive
modification is shown to be sympathy. It was contended in "Social
Statics," as it is contended in the "Principles of Ethics," that
harmonious social co-operation implies that limitation of individual
freedom which results from sympathetic regard for the freedoms of
others; and that the law of equal freedom is the law in conformity to
which equitable individual conduct and equitable social arrangements
co-exist. Mr. Spencer's theory in 1850 was, as his theory still is, that
the mental products of Sympathy which constitute what is called "the
moral sense," arise as fast as men are disciplined into social life; and
that along with them arise intellectual perceptions of right human
relations, which become clearer as the form of social life becomes
better. Further, in the earlier work it was inferred, as it is inferred
in the latest, that there is being effected a conciliation of individual
natures with social requirements; so that there will eventually be
achieved the greatest individuation, along with the greatest mutual
dependence,--an equilibrium of such kind that each, in fulfilling the
wants of his own life, will aid in fulfilling the wants of all other
lives. We observe, finally, that, in the first work, there were drawn
essentially the same corollaries respecting the rights of individuals
and their relations to the State that are drawn in the "Principles
of Ethics."
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