On Mr. Spencer's Data of EthicsGuthrie, Malcolm (Writer on Herbert Spencer)
Philosophy
On Mr. Spencer's Data of Ethics
Guthrie, Malcolm (Writer on Herbert Spencer)
Ethics, Evolutionary; Spencer, Herbert, 1820-1903. Data of ethics
The fact of the existence of altruistic feelings in the texture of the
Ego has led to the theory that all altruistic actions, since they arise
out of the constitution of the Ego, are really egoistic. This argument
is irresistible. A kind, sympathetic man or woman is so by virtue of
innate qualities, just as the selfish or the brutal man is. And if the
justification of actions were to depend upon the authority of natural
egoism the one is as much capable of justification as the other. If
Ethics depends for its explanation and justification upon Biology, then,
since the view of Biology is limited to the individual and means the
suitable adjustment of every moving equilibrium to its special
environment, each is capable of equal justification and similar
explanation. Egoism may include Altruism or it may not, but in either
case the action is equally valid from the point of view of Biology.
If, however, an extension of this view be argued for on the theory that
a rationalistic view of all the requirements of the subjective
surroundings involves a certain line of conduct in order to secure a
suitable adaptation between the organism and the environment, which
shall be the equation of that organism, the best adaptation for the time
being--this will be a superior, because a more extended, biological
aspect of conduct, and it is not disputed that such a view of life may
be more or less acted upon.
But neither the Ego-altruistic view, nor the prudential rationalistic
view attains to the true ethical point of view of human conduct; for the
altruistic growth in the Ego is not universal, nor of equal development;
and the prudential rationalistic motive is purely egoistic and
biological, and therefore adverse to the altruistic, even if it exists
in the Ego.
The main object of the present argument is to shew that the purely
biological explanation of ethical injunctions is insufficient as a means
of understanding their imperative character. And yet it is difficult to
say this if Biology is to be considered as the law of actions of
organisms. It all depends upon the factors which are included in the
generalisation. If the factors are simply physical, then the
generalisation is insufficient; if the forces included in the moving
equilibrium include subjective forces capable of growth into sympathy or
Altruism, then the biological laws receive, perhaps, an extension which
renders them capable of determining the whole of the phenomena. But if
Pleasure and Pain are limited to life-sustaining acts or
life-destructive acts, then the influence of the subjective factors is
limited to the physical, and the super-growth of correspondences of
inner with outer (which is necessary to explain the larger growth of
feeling) transgresses the narrow limits of the biological law--the law
of simple equilibration between the organism and its environment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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