How to Observe: Morals and MannersMartineau, Harriet
Science
How to Observe: Morals and Manners
Martineau, Harriet
Manners and customs; Observation (Psychology); Social psychology -- Methodology
of his tastes by travel, his first object; while the conscientious
Englishman must fulfil the hard conditions of independence before he can
travel. Capital is to him one of the chief requisites of honest
independence; while to the American it is in the outset no requisite at
all. To go without clothing was, till lately, perfectly innocent in the
South Sea Islands; but now that civilization has been fairly established
by the missionaries, it has become a sin. To let an enemy escape with
his life is a disgrace in some countries of the world; while in others
it is held more honourable to forgive than to punish him. Instances of
such varieties and oppositions of conscience might be multiplied till
they filled a volume, to the perplexity and grief of the
unphilosophical, and the serene instruction of the philosophical
observer.
The general influences under which universal ideas and feelings of right
and wrong are formed, are dispensed by the Providence under which all
are educated. That man should be happy is so evidently the intention of
his Creator, the contrivances to that end are so multitudinous and so
striking, that the perception of the aim may be called universal.
Whatever tends to make men happy, becomes a fulfilment of the will of
God. Whatever tends to make them miserable, becomes opposition to his
will. There are, and must be, a host of obstacles to the express
recognition of, and practical obedience to, these great principles; but
they may be discovered as the root of religion and morals in all
countries. There are impediments from ignorance, and consequent error,
selfishness, and passion: the most infantile men mistake the means of
human happiness, and the wisest have but a dim and fluctuating
perception of them: but yet all men entertain one common conviction,
that what makes people happy is good and right, and that what makes them
miserable is evil and wrong. This conviction is at the bottom of
practices which seem the most inconsistent with it. When the Ashantee
offers a human sacrifice, it is in order to secure blessings from his
gods. When the Hindoo exposes his sick parent in the Ganges, he thinks
he is putting him out of pain by a charmed death. When Sand stabbed
Kotzebue, he believed he was punishing and getting rid of an enemy and
an obstacle to the welfare of his nation. When the Georgian planter
buys and sells slaves, he goes on the supposition that he is preserving
the order and due subordination of society. All these notions are shown
by philosophy to be narrow, superficial, and mistaken. They have been
outgrown by many, and are doubtless destined to be outgrown by all; but,
acted upon by the ignorant and deluded, they are very different from the
wickedness which is perpetrated against better knowledge. But these
things would be wickedness, perpetrated against better knowledge, if the
supposition of a universal, infallible Moral Sense were true. The
traveller who should consistently adhere to the notion of a Moral Sense,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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