Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure; and Other EssaysCarpenter, Edward
Philosophy
Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure; and Other Essays
Carpenter, Edward
Civilization; Crime; Evolution; Science
As the author's attacks in the body of this book upon the Civilisation
peoples have sometimes been regarded as extreme and unjustified, it has
been thought appropriate, here in the Appendix, to collect a few notes
from reliable authorities on the characteristics and customs of
pre-civilised men--not so much of course with the object of proving the
latter always superior to the former, as of bringing to light the many
admirable virtues of the early peoples, which a cheap modern
civilisation has neglected or somewhat contemptuously ignored.
No one would deny that there are many cases of primitive folk--folk
unclean and ignorant and absurdly superstitious--who can hardly be said
to command our admiration. On the other hand there are a vast number of
cases of an opposite sort--cases which present to us the realisation of
some remarkable human characteristic or social capacity well worthy of
consideration or even of imitation. If our Civilisation is ever to move
on to some form better than the present, it is these latter cases which
ought to be of assistance; for they not only direct our attention to
human possibilities, but by showing what has been realised in the past
assure us that such ideals are by no means unattainable now.
It is therefore with a view to cases of this kind that the following
Appendix has been framed.
E. C.
+Civilisation does not Engross all the Virtues.+
Quotations from Herman Melville's _Typee_, pp. 225, etc. (John
Murray, 1861.)
"Civilisation does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not
even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and
attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality of
the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the
faithful friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass
anything of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe. If
truth and justice, and the better principles of our nature, cannot exist
unless enforced by the statute-book, how are we to account for the
social condition of the Typees? So pure and upright were they in all the
relations of life, that entering their valley, as I did, under the most
erroneous impressions of their character, I was soon led to exclaim in
amazement: 'Are these the ferocious savages, the bloodthirsty cannibals
of whom I have heard such frightful tales! They deal more kindly with
each other, and are more humane, than many who study essays on virtue
and benevolence, and who repeat every night that beautiful prayer
breathed first by the lips of the divine and gentle Jesus.' I will
frankly declare, that after passing a few weeks in this valley of the
Marquesas, I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever
before entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew of
a man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men has nearly
overturned all my previous theories.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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