Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
Sidenotes have been moved to precede their facing
paragraphs, and are indicated by double equal signs:
==sidenote text==.
Greek words are shown in Greek and then in English
transliterations that are indicated by [Greek: ] and
were added by the transcribers. Accent mark errors
in Greek text have been remedied.
THEORETICAL ETHICS
by
MILTON VALENTINE, D.D., LL. D.
Ex-President of Pennsylvania College, and Professor of Theology
in the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pa.,
Author of "Natural Theology or Rational Theism."
Chicago
Scott, Foresman & Co.
1900
Copyright, 1897, by
Scott, Foresman & Co.
Press of
The Henry O. Shepard Co.
Chicago
PREFACE.
Ethical Theory has felt the full force of recent scientific and
philosophical agitation. The earlier systems have been subject to
earnest and continued discussion. The severest tests available by
the progress of knowledge have been applied to both their premises
and their conclusions. New theories, based on changed conceptions
of man and the world, have been variously elaborated, presenting
greatly altered views of the whole phenomenon of morality. While not
overthrowing old views these have given instructive suggestions. The
ethical field has thus been largely re-surveyed, and whatever light
modern science and speculation have furnished has been thrown upon
this great and unceasingly important subject. In some respects the
agitation has brought confusion and uncertainty. The clash of theories
has been disturbing. But on the whole ethical philosophy has been
the gainer. The discussions have certified the immovable foundations
and essential features of the moral system. The fresh light from the
advance of knowledge has proved, as it always does, not destructive,
but corrective and confirmatory. The abiding truth has been shown and
vindicated by the ordeal through which it has passed.
This volume is largely the outcome of the author's many years of
class-room lecturing on the subject. Its object is to furnish for
students and general readers a compendious view of the ethical facts
and principles as the author believes them to be established by the
best accredited knowledge and thought of our times. There seems to be
room for such a work. The method is believed to give proper recognition
to both the empirical and metaphysical sides of the subject. Starting
from the universal phenomenon of moral distinctions in life, it
determines the conscience psychologically, as a rationally intuitive
power discerning the moral distinction and the reality and authority
of moral law. The implications of conscience and moral law necessarily
become theistic. The metaphysical examination finds for the real
phenomena of the subjective faculty the objective and abiding reality
of the ethical law which the faculty discerns, and the right or morally
good itself so perceived as consisting proximately in a conformity of
conduct with the relations of life in which moral requirement meets
human freedom, and as ultimately grounded in the absolute and perfect
source of the moral constitution of the universe. The movement carries
to the conclusion of eternal and immutable moral law. The disclosures
of revelation confirm the ethical law of the natural reason, completing
the moral view and supplying, in the divine forces of Christianity, the
proper dynamic for the realization of the ethical life.
The volume is humbly sent forth in the hope that it may contribute
somewhat to the cause of truth and prove quickening to the life of duty
and righteousness.
GETTYSBURG, Dec. 1, 1896.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
DEFINITION AND GENERAL DIVISIONS.
PAGES
1. Definition and Statement of the Subject-matter 15-17
2. Historical Glance at the Beginning and Progress of the
Science 17-20
3. Theoretical and Practical 20-23
4. Relations to Psychology, Natural Theology, and Christian
Theology 23-27