Creation or Evolution? A Philosophical InquiryCurtis, George Ticknor
Religion
Creation or Evolution? A Philosophical Inquiry
Curtis, George Ticknor
Creation; Evolution
ye to them likewise," which lies at the foundation of morality. These
social instincts, thus leading at last to the great rule of social
morality, are developed very slowly. They are at first confined to the
benefit of the same tribe, and they have no force in the relations of
that tribe to the members of any other. To a savage it is a highly
meritorious action to save the life of another member of his own tribe,
and if he loses his own life in the effort it is so much the more
meritorious. But he does not extend this idea of doing a good action
to the members of a different tribe, and, whether his own tribe is
or is not at war with the other tribe, he and his own community will
think it no harm if he murders a member of that other tribe. But as
the approach to civilization goes on--as man advances in intellectual
power, and can trace the more remote consequences of his actions, and
as he rejects baneful customs and superstitions, he begins to regard
more and more not only the welfare but the happiness of his fellow-men.
Habit, resulting from beneficial experiences, instruction and example,
renders his sympathies more tender and widely diffused, until at last
he extends them to men of all races, to the imbecile, maimed, and other
useless members of society, and to the inferior animals. Thus the
standard of morality rises higher and higher; but its origin is in the
social instincts, which spring out of the love of approbation and the
fear of disapprobation.[121]
But morality comprehends also the self-regarding virtues, those which
directly affect the individual, and which affect society but remotely
and incidentally. How did the idea of these originate? There is a
very wide difference between the morality of savages, in respect to
the self-regarding virtues, and the morality of civilized nations.
Among the former, the greatest intemperance, utter licentiousness,
and unnatural crimes are very common. But as soon as marriage was
introduced, whether monogamous or polygamous, jealousy led to the
inculcation of female virtue; and this, being honored, spread to the
unmarried females. Chastity, the hatred of indecency, temperance, and
many other self-regarding virtues, originating first in the social
instincts, have come to be highly prized by civilized nations as
affecting, first, the welfare of the community, and, secondly, the
welfare of the individual. This was the origin of the so-called "moral
sense." It rejects the intuitive theory of morality, and bases its
origin on the increasing perception of the advantage of certain conduct
to the community and the individual.[122]
SOPHEREUS. And in this origin of the social and the
self-regarding virtues, which I understand you to say is the theory of
Darwin, is the idea of a divine command to practice certain things, and
to avoid doing certain other things, left out?
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