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signs+. A complete set of corrections follows the text.
PRACTICAL ETHICS
BY
WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE, D. D.
_President of Bowdoin College_
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1892,
BY
HENRY HOLT & CO.
THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS,
RAHWAY, N. J.
PREFACE.
The steady stream of works on ethics during the last ten years, rising
almost to a torrent within the past few months, renders it necessary for
even the tiniest rill to justify its slender contribution to the already
swollen flood.
On the one hand treatises abound which are exhaustive in their
presentation of ethical theory. On the other hand books are plenty which
give good moral advice with great elaborateness of detail. Each type of
work has its place and function. The one is excellent mental gymnastic
for the mature; the other admirable emotional pabulum for the childish
mind. Neither, however, is adapted both to satisfy the intellect and
quicken the conscience at that critical period when the youth has put
away childish things and is reaching out after manly and womanly ideals.
The book which shall meet this want must have theory; yet the theory
must not be made obtrusive, nor stated too abstractly. The theory must
be deeply imbedded in the structure of the work; and must commend
itself, not by metaphysical deduction from first principles, but by its
ability to comprehend in a rational and intelligible order the concrete
facts with which conduct has to do.
Such a book must be direct and practical. It must contain clear-cut
presentation of duties to be done, virtues to be cultivated, temptations
to be overcome, and vices to be shunned: yet this must be done, not by
preaching and exhortation, but by showing the place these things occupy
in a coherent system of reasoned knowledge.
Such a blending of theory and practice, of faith and works, is the aim
and purpose of this book.
The only explicit suggestions of theory are in the introduction (which
should not be taken as the first lesson) and in the last two chapters.
Religion is presented as the consummation, rather than the foundation of
ethics; and the brief sketch of religion in the concluding chapter is
confined to those broad outlines which are accepted, with more or less
explicitness, by Jew and Christian, Catholic and Protestant, Orthodox
and Liberal.
WILLIAM DEWITT HYDE.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE,
BRUNSWICK, ME. May 10, 1892.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION, 1
I. FOOD AND DRINK, 9
II. DRESS, 19
III. EXERCISE, 25
IV. WORK, 32
V. PROPERTY, 40
VI. EXCHANGE, 46
VII. KNOWLEDGE, 53
VIII. TIME, 60
IX. SPACE, 65
X. FORTUNE, 70
XI. NATURE, 81
XII. ART, 89
XIII. ANIMALS, 98
XIV. FELLOW-MEN, 104
XV. THE POOR, 117
XVI. WRONGDOERS, 127
XVII. FRIENDS, 137
XVIII. FAMILY, 144
XIX. STATE, 157
XX. SOCIETY, 167
XXI. SELF, 179
XXII. GOD, 194
OUTLINE OF PRACTICAL ETHICS
SEE LAST PARAGRAPH OF INTRODUCTION.
====================================================================
| | | |
Object. | Duty. | Virtue. | Reward. |
| | | |
------------+----------------+--------------------+----------------+
| | | |
Food and | Vigor, | Temperance, | Health, |
drink, | | | |
| | | |
Dress, | Comeliness, | Neatness, | Respectability,|
| | | |
Exercise, | Recreation, | Cheerfulness, | Energy, |
| | | |
Work, | Self-support, | Industry, | Wealth, |
| | | |
Property, | Provision, | Economy, | Prosperity, |
| | | |
Exchange, | Equivalence, | Honesty, | Self-respect, |
| | | |
Sex, | Reproduction, | Purity, | Sweetness, |
| | | |
Knowledge, | Truth, | Veracity, | Confidence, |
| | | |
Time, | Co-ordination, | Prudence, | Harmony, |
| | | |
| | | |
Space, | System, | Orderliness, | Efficiency, |
| | | |
Fortune, | Superiority, | Courage, | Honor, |
| | | |
Nature, | Appreciation, | Sensitiveness, | Inspiration, |
| | | |
Art, | Beauty, | Simplicity, | Refinement, |
| | | |
Animals, | Consideration, | Kindness, | Tenderness, |
| | | |
Fellow-men, | Fellowship, | Love, | Unity, |
| | | |
The Poor, | Help, | Benevolence, | Sympathy, |
| | | |
Wrong-doers,| Justice, | Forgiveness, | Reformation, |
| | | |
Friends, | Devotion, | Fidelity, | Affection, |
| | | |
Family, | Membership, | Loyalty, | Home, |
| | | |
State, | Organization, | Patriotism, | Civilization, |
| | | |
Society, | Co-operation, | Public Spirit, | Freedom, |
| | | |
Self, | Realization, | Conscientiousness, | Character, |
| | | |
God, | Obedience, | Holiness, | Life, |
OUTLINE OF PRACTICAL ETHICS (cont.)
===============================================================================
| | | |
Object | Temptation | Vice of Defect | Vice of Excess | Penalty
| | | |
------------+---------------+--------------------+----------------+------------
| | | |
Food and | Appetite, | Asceticism, | Intemperance, | Disease.
drink, | | | |
| | | |
Dress, | Vanity, | Slovenliness, | Fastidiousness,| Contempt.
| | | |
Exercise, | Excitement, | Morbidness, | Frivolity, | Debility.
| | | |
Work, | Ease, | Laziness, | Overwork, | Poverty.
| | | |
Property, | Indulgence, | Wastefulness, | Miserliness, | Want.
| | | |
Exchange, | Gain, | Dishonesty, | Compliance, | Degradation.
| | | |
Sex, | Lust, | Prudery, | Sensuality, | Bitterness.
| | | |
Knowledge, | Ignorance, | Falsehood, | Gossip, | Distrust.
| | | |
Time, | Dissipation, | Procrastination, | Anxiety, | Discord.
| | | |
Space, | Disorder, | Carelessness, | Red Tape, | Obstruction.
| | | |
Fortune, | Risk, | Cowardice, | Gambling, | Shame.
| | | |
Nature, | Utility, | Obtuseness, | Affectation, | Stagnation.
| | | |
Art, | Luxury, | Ugliness, | Ostentation, | Vulgarity.
| | | |
Animals, | Neglect, | Cruelty, | Subjection, | Brutality.
| | | |
Fellow-men, | Indifference, | Selfishness, | Sentimentality,| Strife.
| | | |
The Poor, | Alienation, | Niggardliness, | Indulgence, | Antipathy.
| | | |
Wrong-doers,| Vengeance, | Severity, | Lenity, | Perversity.
| | | |
Friends, | Betrayal, | Exclusiveness, | Effusiveness, | Isolation.
| | | |
Family, | Independence, | Self-sufficiency, | Self- | Loneliness.
| | | obliteration,|
| | | |
State, | Spoils, | Treason, | Ambition, | Anarchy.
| | | |
Society, | Self-interest,| Meanness, | Officiousness, | Constraint.
| | | |
Self, | Pleasure, | Unscrupulousness, | Formalism, | Corruption.
| | | |
God, | Self-will, | Sin, | Hypocrisy, | Death.
INTRODUCTION.
Ethics is the science of conduct, and the art of life.
Life consists in the maintenance of relations; it requires continual
adjustment; it implies external objects, as well as internal forces.
Conduct must have materials to work with; stuff to build character out
of; resistance to overcome; objects to confront.
These objects nature has abundantly provided. They are countless as the
sands of the seashore, or the stars of heaven. In order to bring them
within the range of scientific treatment we must classify them, and
select for study those classes of objects which are most essential to
life and conduct. Each chapter of this book presents one of these
fundamental objects with which life and conduct are immediately
concerned.
A great many different relations are possible between ourselves and each
one of these objects. Of these many possible relations some would be
injurious to ourselves; some would be destructive of the object. Toward
each object there is one relation, and one only, which at the same time
best promotes the development of ourselves and best preserves the
object's proper use and worth. The maintenance of this ideal union of
self and object is our duty with reference to that object.
Which shall come first and count most in determining this right
relation, self or object, depends on the character of the object.
In the case of inanimate objects, such as food, drink, dress, and
property, the interests of the self are supreme. Toward these things it
is our right and duty to be sagaciously and supremely selfish. When
persons and mere things meet, persons have absolute right of way.
When we come to ideal objects, such as knowledge, art, Nature, this cool
selfishness is out of place. The attempt to cram knowledge, appropriate
nature, and "get up" art, defeats itself. These objects have a worth in
themselves, and rights of their own which we must respect. They resent
our attempts to bring them into subjection to ourselves. We must
surrender to them, we must take the attitude of humble and
self-forgetful suitors, if we would win the best gifts they have to
give, and claim them as our own.
As we rise to personal relations, neither appropriation nor surrender,
neither egoism nor altruism, nor indeed any precisely measured
mechanical mixture of the two, will solve the problem. Here the
recognition of a common good, a commonwealth in which each person has an
equal worth with every other, is the only satisfactory solution. "Be a
person, and respect the personality of others," is the duty in this
sphere.
As we approach social institutions we enter the presence of objects
which represent interests vastly wider, deeper, more enduring than the
interests of our individual lives. The balance, which was evenly poised
when we weighed ourselves against other individuals, now inclines toward
the side of these social institutions, without which the individual life
would be stripped of all its worth and dignity, apart from which man
would be no longer man. Duty here demands devotion and self-sacrifice.
Finally, when we draw near to God, who is the author and sustainer of
individuals, of science and art and nature, and of social institutions,
then the true relation becomes one of reverence and worship.
In each case duty is the fullest realization of self and object. Whether
self or the object shall be the determining factor in the relation
depends on whether the object in question has less, equal, or greater
worth than the individual self.
If we do our duty repeatedly and perseveringly in any direction, we form
the habit of doing it, learn to enjoy it, and acquire a preference for
it. This habitual preference for a duty is the virtue corresponding to
it.
Virtue is manliness or womanliness. It is the steadfast assertion of
what we see to be our duty against the solicitations of temptation.
Virtue is mastery; first of self, and through self-mastery, the mastery
of the objects with which we come in contact.
Since duty is the maintenance of self and its objects in highest
realization, and virtue is constant and joyous fidelity to duty, it
follows that duty and virtue cannot fail of that enlargement and
enrichment of life which is their appropriate reward.
The reward of virtue will vary according to the duty done and the object
toward which it is directed. The virtues which deal with mere things
will bring as their rewards material prosperity. The virtues which deal
with ideal objects will have their reward in increased capacities,
intensified sensibilities, and elevated tastes. The virtues which deal
with our fellow-men will be rewarded by enlargement of social sympathy,
and deeper tenderness of feeling. The virtues which are directed toward
family, state, and society, have their reward in that exalted sense of
participation in great and glorious aims, which lift one up above the
limitations of his private self, and can make even death sweet and
beautiful--a glad and willing offering to that larger social self of
which it is the individual's highest privilege to count himself a worthy
and honorable member.
Life, however, is not this steady march to victory, with beating drums
and flying banners, which, for the sake of continuity in description, we
have thus far regarded it. There are hard battles to fight; and mighty
foes to conquer. We must now return to those other possible relations
which we left when we selected for immediate consideration that one
right relation which we call duty.
Since there is only one right relation between self and an object, all
others must be wrong. These other possible relations are temptations.
Temptation is the appeal of an object to a single side of our nature as
against the well-being of self as a whole. Each object gives rise to
many temptations. "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction."
Just as duty performed gives rise to virtue, so temptation, yielded to,
begets vice. Vice is the habitual yielding to temptation.
Temptations fall into two classes. Either we are tempted to neglect an
object, and so to give it too little influence over us; or else we are
tempted to be carried away by an object, and to give it an excessive and
disproportionate place in our life. Hence the resulting vices fall into
two classes. Vices resulting from the former sort of temptation are
vices of defect. Vices resulting from the latter form of temptation are
vices of excess. As one of these temptations is usually much stronger
than the other, we will discuss simply the strongest and most
characteristic temptation in connection with each object. Yet as both
classes of vice exist with reference to every object, it will be best to
consider both.
Vice carries its penalty in its own nature. Being a perversion of some
object, it renders impossible that realization of ourselves through the
object, or in the higher relations, that realization of the object
through us, on which the harmony and completeness of our life depends.
In the words of Plato: "Virtue is the health and beauty and well-being
of the soul, and vice is the disease and weakness and deformity of the
soul."
Each chapter will follow the order here developed. The outline on pp. x,
xi shows the logical framework on which the book is constructed. Under
the limitations of such a table, confined to a single term in every
case, it is of course impossible to avoid the appearance of
artificiality of form and inadequacy of treatment. This collection of
dry bones is offered as the easiest way of exhibiting at a glance the
conception of ethics as an organic whole of interrelated members: a
conception it would be impossible to present in any other form without
entering upon metaphysical inquiries altogether foreign to the practical
purpose of the book.
PRACTICAL ETHICS.
CHAPTER I.
Food and Drink.
The foundations of life, and therefore the first concerns of conduct,
are food and drink. Other things are essential if we are to live
comfortably and honorably. Food and drink are essential if we are to
live at all. In order that we may not neglect these important objects,
nature has placed on guard over the body two sentinels, hunger and
thirst, to warn us whenever fresh supplies of food and drink are needed.
THE DUTY.
+Body and mind to be kept in good working order.+--In response to these
warnings it is our duty to eat and drink such things, in such
quantities, at such times, and in such ways as will render the body the
most efficient organ and expression of the mind and will.
Hygiene and physiology, and our own experience and common sense, tell us
in detail what, when, and how much it is best for us to eat and drink.
Ethics presupposes this knowledge, and simply tells us that these laws
of hygiene and physiology are our best friends; and that it is our duty
to heed what they say.
THE VIRTUE.
+Temperance is self-control.+--These sentinels tell us when to begin;
but they do not always tell us when to leave off: and if they do, it
sometimes requires special effort to heed the warning that they give.
The appetite for food and drink, if left to itself, would run away with
us. Our liking for what tastes good, if allowed to have its own way,
would lead us to eat and drink such things and in such quantities as to
weaken our stomachs, enfeeble our muscles, muddle our brains, impair our
health, and shorten our lives. Temperance puts bits into the mouth of
appetite; holds a tight rein over it; compels it to go, not where it
pleases to take us, but where we see that it is best for us to go; and
trains it to stop when it has gone far enough.
Virtue means manliness. Temperance is a virtue because it calls into
play that strong, firm will which is the most manly thing in us. The
temperate man is the strong man. For he is the master, not the slave of
his appetites. He is lord of his own life.
THE REWARD.
+The temperate man has all his powers perpetually at their best.+--Into
work or play or study he enters with the energy and zest which come of
good digestion, strong muscles, steady nerves, and a clear head. He
works hard, plays a strong game, thinks quickly and clearly; because he
has a surplus of vitality to throw into whatever he undertakes. He
prospers in business because he is able to prosecute it with energy. He
makes friends because he has the cheerfulness and vivacity which is the
charm of good-fellowship. He enjoys life because all its powers are at
his command.
THE TEMPTATION.
+The pleasures of taste an incidental good, but not the ultimate
good.+--Food tastes good to the hungry, and to the thirsty drinking is a
keen delight. This is a kind and wise provision of nature; and as long
as this pleasure accompanies eating and drinking in a normal and natural
way it aids digestion and promotes health and vigor. The more we enjoy
our food the better; and food, well-cooked, well-served, and eaten in a
happy and congenial company, is vastly better for us than the same food
poorly cooked, poorly served, and devoured in solitude and silence.
Yet it is possible to make this pleasure which accompanies eating and
drinking the end for the sake of which we eat and drink. The temptation
is to eat and drink what we like and as much as we like; instead of what
we know to be best for us.
THE VICE OF DEFECT.
+The difference between temperance and asceticism.+--Asceticism looks
like temperance. People who practice it often pride themselves upon it.
But it is a hollow sham. And it has done much to bring discredit upon
temperance, for which it tries to pass. What then is the difference
between temperance and asceticism? Both control appetite. Both are
opposed to intemperance. But they differ in the ends at which they aim.
Temperance controls appetite for the sake of greater life and health and
strength. Asceticism is the control of appetite merely for the sake of
controlling it. Asceticism, in shunning the evils to which food and
drink may lead, misses also the best blessings they are able to confer.
The ascetic attempts to regulate by rule and measure everything he eats
and drinks, and to get along with just as little as possible, and so he
misses the good cheer and hearty enjoyment which should be the best part
of every meal.
Let us be careful not to confound sour, lean, dyspeptic asceticism with
the hale, hearty virtue of temperance. Asceticism sacrifices vigor and
vitality for the sake of keeping its rules and exercising self-control.
Temperance observes the simple rules of hygiene and common sense for the
sake of vigor and vitality; and sacrifices the pleasures of the palate
only in so far as it is necessary in order to secure in their greatest
intensity and permanence the larger and higher interests of life.
THE VICES OF EXCESS.
+Intemperance in eating is gluttony. Intemperance in drinking leads to
drunkenness.+--Instead of sitting in the seat of reason and driving the
appetites before him in obedience to his will, the glutton and the
drunkard harness themselves into the wagon and put reins and whip into
the hands of their appetites.
The glutton lives to eat; instead of eating to live. This vice is so
odious and contemptible that few persons give themselves up entirely to
gluttony. Yet every time we eat what we know is not good for us, or more
than is good for us, we fall a victim to this loathsome vice.
+The drunkard is the slave of an unnatural thirst.+--Alcoholic drink
produces as its first effect an excitement and exhilaration much more
intense than any pleasure coming from the normal gratification of
natural appetite. This exhilaration is purchased at the expense of
stimulating the system to abnormal exertion. This excessive action of
the system during intoxication is followed by a corresponding reaction.
The man feels as much worse than usual during the hours and days that
follow his debauch, as he felt better than usual during the brief
moments that he was taking his drinks. This depression and disturbance
of the system which follows indulgence in intoxicating drink begets an
unnatural and incessant craving for a repetition of the stimulus; and so
in place of the even, steady life of the temperate man, the drinking
man's life is a perpetual alternation of brief moments of unnatural
excitement, followed by long days of unnatural craving and depression.
The habit of indulging this unnatural craving steals upon a man
unawares; it occupies more and more of his thought; takes more and more
of his time and money, until he is unable to think or care for anything
else. It becomes more important to him than business, home, wife,
children, reputation, or character; and before he knows it he finds that
his will is undermined, reason is dethroned, affection is dead, appetite
has become his master, and he has become its beastly and degraded slave.
+Total abstinence the only sure defense.+--This vice of intemperance is
so prevalent in the community, so insidious in its approach, so
degrading in its nature, so terrible in its effects, that the only
absolutely and universally sure defense against it is total abstinence.
A man may think himself strong enough to stop drinking when and where he
pleases; but the peculiar and fatal deception about intoxicating drink
is that it makes those who become its victims weaker to resist it with
every indulgence. It enfeebles their wills directly. The fact that a man
can stop drinking to-day is no sure sign that he can drink moderately
for a year and stop then. At the end of that time he will have a
different body, a different brain, a different mind, a different will
from the body and mind and will he has to-day, and would have after a
year of abstinence.
As we have seen, with every natural and healthy exercise of our
appetites and faculties moderation is preferable to abstinence. It is
better to direct them toward the ends they are intended to accomplish
that to stifle and suppress them. But the thirst for intoxicating drink
is unnatural. It creates abnormal cravings; it produces diseased
conditions which corrupt and destroy the very powers of nerve and brain
on which the faculties of reason and control depend. "Touch not, taste
not, handle not," is the only rule that can insure one against the
fearful ravages of this beastly and inhuman vice.
+Responsibility for social influence.+--A strong argument in favor of
abstinence from intoxicating drink is its beneficial social influence.
If there are two bridges across a stream, one safe and sure, the other
so shaky and treacherous that a large proportion of all who try to cross
over it fall into the stream and are drowned; the fact that I happen to
have sufficiently cool head and steady nerves to walk over it in safety
does not make it right for me to do so, when I know that my
companionship and example will lead many to follow who will certainly
perish in the attempt.
Mild wines and milder climates may render the moderate use of alcoholic
drinks comparatively harmless to races less nervously organized than
ours. And there doubtless are individuals in our midst whose strong
constitution, phlegmatic temperament, or social training enable them to
use wine daily for years without appreciable injury. They can walk with
comparative safety the narrow bridge. There are multitudes who cannot.
There are tens of thousands for whom our distilled liquors, open
saloons, and treating customs, combined with our trying climate and
nervous organizations, render moderate drinking practically impossible.
They must choose between the safe and sure way of total abstinence, or
the fatal plunge into drunkenness and disgrace. And if those who are
endowed with cooler heads and stronger nerves are mindful of their
social duty to these weaker brethren, among whom are some of the most
generous and noble-hearted of our acquaintances and friends, then for
the sake of these more sorely tempted ones, and for the sake of their
mothers, wives, and sisters to whom a drunken son, husband, or brother
is a sorrow worse than death, they will forego a trifling pleasure in
order to avert the ruin that their example would otherwise help to bring
on the lives, fortunes, and families of others.
+Fatal fascination of the opium habit.+--What has been said of alcoholic
drink is equally true of opium. The habit of using opium is easy to form
and almost impossible to break. The secret workings of this poison upon
the mind and will of its victim are most insidious and fatal.
+Tobacco a serious injury to growing persons.+--On this point all
teachers are unanimous. Statistics taken at the naval school at
Annapolis, at Yale College, and elsewhere, show that the use of tobacco
is the exception with scholars at the head, and the rule with scholars
at the foot of the class.
Shortly after we began to take statistics on this point in Bowdoin
College I asked the director of the gymnasium what was the result with
the Freshman class? "Oh," he said, "the list of the smokers is
substantially the same as that which was reported the other day for
deficiencies in scholarship." A prominent educator, who had given
considerable attention to this subject, after spending an hour in my
recitation room with a class of college seniors, indicated with perfect
accuracy the habitual and excessive smokers, simply by noting the eye,
manner, and complexion.
Tobacco, used in early life, tends to stunt the growth, weaken the eyes,
shatter the nervous system, and impair the powers of physical endurance
and mental application. No candidate for a college athletic team, or
contestant in a race, would think of using tobacco while in training.
Every man who wishes to keep himself in training for the highest prizes
in business and professional life must guard his early years from the
deterioration which this habit invariably brings.
THE PENALTY.
+These vices bring disease and disgrace.+--These vices put in place of
physical well-being the gratification of a particular taste and
appetite. Hence they bring about the abnormal action of some organs at
the expense of all the rest; and this is the essence of disease.
A diseased body causes a disordered mind and an enfeebled will. The
excessive and over-stimulated activity of one set of organs involves a
corresponding defect in the activity and functions of the other
faculties. The glutton or drunkard neglects his business; loses interest
in reading and study; fails to provide for his family; forfeits
self-respect; and thus brings upon himself poverty and wretchedness and
shame. He sinks lower and lower in the social scale; grows more and more
a burden to others and a disgrace to himself; and at last ends a
worthless and ignominious life in an unwept and dishonored grave.