Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
to create a radically different and higher civilization.
(3) The moral harm of alcohol is comparable to its physical and
economic harm.
(a) As we noted when considering the value of alcohol, the higher
nature is stupefied, leaving the emotions less controlled. The
silliness, the irritability, the glumness, the violence, the lust of
men are given freer rein. The effect of alcohol is coarsening,
brutalizing; we are not our best selves under its influence. The
judgment is dulled, the spirit of recklessness is stimulated-an
impatience of restraint and a craving for further excitement. Even
after the palpable effects of a potation have disappeared, a permanent
alteration in the brain remains, which makes it likely that the drinker
will "go farther" next time or the time after. The accumulation of
such effects leads finally to the complete demoralization of character,
to the point where a man's higher nature can no longer keep control
over his conduct. This is what is meant by saying that alcohol undermines
the will power. [Footnote: See H. S. Williams, op. cit, p. 56]
In particular, most sexual sins are committed after drinking; and the
gravity of the sex problem is so great that this fact alone would
justify the banishment of alcohol, the greatest of sexual stimulants.
[Footnote: Cf. Jane Addams, A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil, p.
189: "Even a slight exhilaration from alcohol relaxes the moral sense
and throws a sentimental or adventurous glamour over an aspect of life
from which a decent young man would ordinarily recoil; and its
continued use stimulates the senses at the very moment when the
intellectual and moral inhibitions are lessened."]
(b) A very large proportion of the crimes committed are committed under
the influence of alcohol. In Massachusetts, for example (in 1895),
only five per cent of convictions for crime were of abstainers. In
general, statistics show that from a half to three quarters of the
total amount of crime has drinking for a direct contributing cause.
When we add to this the crime-inducing influence of the poverty, ill
health, and immoral social conditions caused by drink; we can form
some idea of the moral indictment against alcohol. [Footnote: H. S.
Warner, op. cit, p. 261.]
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