The origin and development of the moral ideas — John Shaqi
The origin and development of the moral ideasWestermarck, Edward
Philosophy
The origin and development of the moral ideas
Westermarck, Edward
Ethics; Ethics -- History; Prehistoric peoples
Yet our tendency to objectivise the moral judgments is no sufficient
ground for referring them to the province of reason. If, in this
respect, there is a difference between these judgments and others that
are rooted in the subjective sphere of experience, it is, largely, a
difference in degree rather than in kind. The aesthetic judgments,
which indisputably have an emotional origin, also lay claim to a
certain amount of "objectivity." By saying of a piece of music that it
is beautiful, we do not merely mean that it gives ourselves aesthetic
enjoyment, but we make a latent assumption that it must have a similar
effect upon everybody who is sufficiently musical to appreciate it.
This objectivity ascribed to judgments which have a merely subjective
origin springs in the first place from the similarity of the mental
constitution of men, and, generally speaking, the tendency to regard
them as objective is greater in proportion as the impressions vary
less in each particular case. If "there is no disputing of tastes,"
that is because taste is so extremely variable; and yet even in this
instance we recognise a certain "objective" standard by speaking of a
"bad" and a "good" taste. On the other hand, if the appearance of
objectivity in the moral judgments is so illusive as to {9} make it
seem necessary to refer them to reason, that is partly on account of
the comparatively uniform nature of the moral consciousness.
Society is the school in which men learn to distinguish between right
and wrong. The headmaster is Custom, and the lessons are the same for
all. The first moral judgments were pronounced by public opinion;
public indignation and public approval are the prototypes of the moral
emotions. As regards questions of morality, there was, in early
society, practically no difference of opinion; hence a character of
universality, or objectivity, was from the very beginning attached to
all moral judgments. And when, with advancing civilisation, this
unanimity was to some extent disturbed by individuals venturing to
dissent from the opinions of the majority, the disagreement was
largely due to facts which in no way affected the moral principle, but
had reference only to its application.
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