Moral Science | Page 5

Morality alone has intrinsic Worth or
Dignity. Principles founded on the Heteronomy of the Will--Happiness,
Perfection. Duty legitimized by the conception of the Freedom of the
Will, properly understood. Postulates of the pure Practical
Reason--Freedom, Immortality, God. Summary.
COUSIN. Analysis of the sentiments aroused in us by human actions.
The Moral Sentiment made up of a variety of moral judgments--Good
and Evil, Obligation, Liberty, Merit and Demerit. Virtue brings
Happiness. Moral Satisfaction and Remorse. The Law of Duty is
conformity to Reason. The characteristic of Reason is Universality.
Classification of Duties:--Duties to Self; to Others--Truth, Justice,
Charity. Application to Politics.
JOUFFROY. Each creature has a special nature, and a special end. Man
has certain primary passions to be satisfied. Secondary passions--the
Useful, the Good, Happiness. All the faculties controlled by the Reason.
The End of Interest. End of Universal Order. Morality the expression of
divine thought; identified with the beautiful and the true. The moral law
and self-interest coincide. Boundaries of the three states--Passion,
Egoism, Moral determination.

ETHICS

PART I.
THE THEORY OF ETHICS.

CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY VIEW OF ETHICAL, QUESTIONS.
As a preface to the account of the Ethical Systems, and a principle of
arrangement, for the better comparing of them, we shall review in order
the questions that arise in the discussion.
I. First of all is the question as to the ETHICAL STANDARD. What, in
the last resort, is the test, criterion, umpire, appeal, or Standard, in
determining Right and Wrong? In the concrete language of Paley,
"Why am I obliged to keep my word? The answer to this is the Theory
of Right and Wrong, the essential part of every Ethical System."
We may quote the leading answers, as both explaining and
summarizing the chief question of Ethics, and more especially of
Modern Ethics.
1. It is alleged that the arbitrary Will of the Deity, as expressed in the
Bible, is the ultimate standard. On this view anything thus commanded
is right, whatever be its consequences, or however it may clash with
our sentiments and reasonings.
2. It was maintained by Hobbes, that the Sovereign, acting under his
responsibility to God, is the sole arbiter of Right and Wrong. As
regards Obligatory Morality, this seems at first sight an identical
proposition; morality is another name for law and sovereignty. In the
view of Hobbes, however, the sovereign should be a single person, of
absolute authority, humanly irresponsible, and irremoveable; a type of

sovereignty repudiated by civilized nations.
3. It has been held, in various phraseology, that a certain fitness,
suitability, or propriety in actions, as determined by our Understanding
or Reason, is the ultimate test. "When a man keeps his word, there is a
certain congruity or consistency between the action and the occasion,
between the making of a promise and its fulfilment; and wherever such
congruity is discernible, the action is right." This is the view of
Cudworth, Clarke, and Price. It may be called the Intellectual or
Rational theory.
A special and more abstract form of the same theory is presented in the
dictum of Kant--'act in such a way that your conduct might be a law to
all beings.'
4. It is contended, that the human mind possesses an intuition or
instinct, whereby we feel or discern at once the right from the wrong; a
view termed the doctrine of the Moral Sense, or Moral Sentiment.
Besides being supported by numerous theorizers in Ethics, this is the
prevailing and popular doctrine; it underlies most of the language of
moral suasion. The difficulties attending the stricter interpretation of it
have led to various modes of qualifying and explaining it, as will
afterwards appear. Shaftesbury and Hutcheson are more especially
identified with the enunciation of this doctrine in its modern aspect.
5. It was put forth by Mandeville that Self-interest is the only test of
moral rightness. Self-preservation is the first law of being; and even
when we are labouring for the good of others, we are still having regard
to our own interest.
6. The theory called, Utility, and Utilitarianism, supposes that the
well-being or happiness of mankind is the sole end, and ultimate
standard of morality. The agent takes account both of his own
happiness and of the happiness of others, subordinating, on proper
occasions, the first to the second. This theory is definite in its
opposition to all the others, but admits of considerable latitude of view
within itself. Stoicism and Epicureanism, are both included in its
compass.

The two last-named theories--Self-Interest, and Utility or the Common
Well-Being, have exclusive regard to the consequences of actions; the
others assign to consequences a subordinate position. The terms
External and Dependent are also used to express the reference to
Happiness as the end: Internal and Independent are the contrasting
epithets.
II. Ethical Theory embraces certain