Practical ethics, by William De Witt Hyde...

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Introduction, ------ i

I. Food and Drink, ----- 9

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 compre-

VI PREFACE.

hend 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.

The fact of sex is so fundamental to life and conduct, and its possible perversions are so fatal, that no account of ethics is complete without some very plain words on the subject. On the other hand it is unwise to intrust a subject so personal and delicate to the vicissitudes of a public class room. Instruction on this subject is the imperative duty of all parents to their children, and an opportunity which every conscientious teacher will employ whenever intimacy and confidence will warrant it. In place

PREFACE. Vll

of a detailed discussion of the subject in the body of the book, which my plan calls for, I will briefly indicate here the points which parents, and, as far as is practicable, teachers should go over in private with those intrusted to their care.

Parents should recognize the fact that very young children frequently fall into the habit of exciting the sexual passions in entire innocence, merely as a means of awakening feelings which to them have no significance beyond the immediate agreeableness of physical sensation. The parent who does not keep a sharp watch over the child from the earliest years with reference to this matter, who does not explain in simple terms the danger and ruin the practice, if continued and made habitual, will bring, and who fails from the very first to secure the confidence of the child on this point, runs a fearful risk of seeing the child grow up enfeebled in body, mind, and will, and destined to fall before the first temptation to more open, but not more fatal or degrading, sexual vices.

Between the ages of five and ten, the most the parent can do is to answer the questions prompted by childish curiosity in such a way as to impress the child with the honorableness and sacredness of the sexual nature as the source of life. The parent should welcome rather than evade such questions. The child who is unwilling to talk freely with father, mother, or some mature and trusted friend about everything that concerns the physical nature, is exposed to serious physical as well as moral dan-

Vlll PREFACE.

gers. Pure water is not the absence of water, but water without admixture of foreign materials. Pure gold is not the absence of gold, but gold without alloy. And the pure boy or girl is not the boy or girl who has, or pretends to have, no interest or curiosity about the fact of sex ; but the boy or girl who thinks of these things honorably, and speaks of them frankly without coarseness or false modesty.

As soon as it can be understood, the parent should take occasion to explain in full the provision nature has made for the slow and gradual development of the sexual powers, and for the removal of superfluous substances at proper intervals, so that the youth will never be tempted to excite prematurely the sexual nature by impure thoughts and indecent acts, or from groundless apprehensions to betake himself to quacks. fAt the same time the mind and heart must be fortified against obscene books, pictures, and conversation ; for unless barriers are erected within the mind and heart, no external protection will avail.)

As they approach maturity, young people should be taught to look forward to marriage, as the union of the whole nature, body, mind, and heart, of man and woman in life-long respect and helpfulness and love. They should be taught that all sexual relations in which one cannot deliberately accept the consequences of such connection for both parties, for offspring, and for society, are cruel to another and degrading to self. They should be made to see that this principle confines sexiral connection

PREFACE. IX

strictly to marriage ; and within the marriage relation to such moderation and self-control as is essential to the highest bodily and mental vigor both of parents and offspring. They should be made to feel that any violation of this principle is a sacrifice of the human to the brutal; of the spirit to the flesh; of the permanent well-being of the soul to the transient pleasure of the body. They should be impressed in advance with the fact that man and woman are too great, too noble, too akin to the divine to find permanent satisfaction in the merely sensuous nature, perverted from its natural and normal end. They should be made to realize that any attempt to find permanent satisfaction in mere sensuous enjoyment is sure to end in loathing and disgust. They should be taught that the effort to lead another to become the instrument of such gratification, at the sacrifice of character, reputation, and social standing, is a crime as much more cruel than murder, as is life-long shame and degradation more to be shunned than sudden and honorable death.

WILLIAM DeWITT HYDE.

Bowdoin College,

Brunswick, Me. May 10, 1892.

OUTLINE OF

ISP See Last

Object.

Food and drink, .

Dress, . .

Exercise, .

Work, . .

Property, .

Exchange, .

Sex, . . .

Knowledge, Time, . .

Space, . .

Fortune, Nature, . .

Art, . . .

Animals, .

Fellow-men, The Poor, .

Wrong-doers, Friends, Family, . .

State, . .

Society, Self, . . .

God, . . .

Duty.

Vigor, ....

Comeliness, . .

Recreation, . .

Self-support,

Provision, . .

Equivalence,

Reproduction, .

Truth, . . .

Co-ordination, .

System, . . .

Superiority, . .

Appreciation, .

Beauty, . . .

Consideration, .

Fellowship, . .

Justice, . . .

Devotion, . .

Membership,

Organization, .

Co-operation, .

Realization, . .

Obedience, . .

Virtue.

Temperance, Neatness, Cheerfulness Industry, .

Economy, Honesty, « Purity, Veracity, .

Prudence, Orderliness, Courage, .

Sensitiveness, Simplicity, Kindness, Love, . .

Benevolence, Forgiveness, Fidelity, . .

Loyalty, . .

Patriotism, .

Public Spirit, Conscientiousness Holiness,

Reward.

Health, . .

Respectability,

Energy, .

Wealth, .

Prosperity,

Self-respect,

Sweetness,

Confidence,

Harmony,

Efficiency,

Honor,

Inspiration,

Refinement,

Tenderness,

Unity,

Sympathy,

Reformation

Affection,

Home,

Civilization,

Freedom,

Character,

Life, . .

PRACTICAL ETHICS.

Paragraph of Introduction.

XI

Temptation.

Vice of Defect.

Vice of Excess.

Appetite, . . .

Asceticism, . .

Intemperance, .

Vanity, . . .

Slovenliness,

Fastidiousness, .

Excitement, . .

Morbidness,

Frivolity, . . .

Laziness, . . .

Overwork, . .

Indulgence, . .

Wastefulness, .

Miserliness, . .

Dishonesty, . .

Compliance, . .

Prudery, . . .

Sensuality, . .

Ignorance, . .

Falsehood, . .

Gossip, . . .

Dissipation, . .

Procrastination,

Anxiety, . .

Disorder, . . .

Carelessness,

Red Tape, , .

Cowardice, . .

Gambling, . .

Utility, ....

Obtuseness, . .

Affectation, . .

Luxury, . . .

Ugliness, . . .

Ostentation,

Neglect, . . .

Cruelty, . . .

Subjection, . .

Indifference, . .

Selfishness, . .

Sentimentality, .

Alienation, . .

Niggardliness, .

Indulgence, . .

Vengeance, . .

Severity, . . .

Lenity, . . .

Betrayal, . . .

Exclusiveness, .

Effusiveness,

Independence,

Self-sufficiency,

Self-obliteration,

Spoils, ....

Treason, . . .

Ambition, . .

Self-interest, . .

Meanness, . .

Officiousness, .

Pleasure, . . .

Unscrupulousness

Formalism, . .

Self-will, . . .

Hypocrisy, . .

Penalty.

Disease.

Contempt.

Debility.

Poverty.

Want.

Degradation.

Bitterness.

Distrust.

Discord.

Obstruction.

Shame.

Stagnation.

Vulgarity.

Brutality.

Strife.

Antipathy.

Perversity.

Isolation.

Loneliness.

Anarchy.

Constraint.

Corruption,

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

2 INTRODUCTION.

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

INTRODUCTION. 3

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 p^rseveringly 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

4 INTRODUCTIOX.

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 w r hen

INTRODUCTION. 5

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

6 INTRODUCTION.

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.

PRACTICAL ETHICS.

Chapter I

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

16 FOOD AND DRINK.

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

THE TEMPTATION. I*

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, wellcooked, 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.

12 FOOD AND DRINIC.

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. 13

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. — Alchoholic 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

14 FOOD AND DRINK,

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.

THE VICES OF EXCESS. 15

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 alchoholic 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

1 6 FOOD AND DRINK.

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. Xo 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.