The Moral Economy

We have thus far dealt with the general content of morality, and with its logical grounds. Morality is only life where life is organized and confident, the struggle for mere exi...

I shall not attempt to define the task of history, except in the broadest terms. The form which its results should finally assume is a matter of dispute among historians themsel...

There are certain human activities which not only are of special interest on their own account, but also hold a position of pre-eminence in civilization. Such are science, philo...

It is generally agreed that religion is either the paramount issue or the most serious obstacle to progress. To its devotees religion is of overwhelming importance; to unbelieve...

There is a phrase, "liberty of conscience," which well expresses the modern conception of moral obligation. It recognizes that duty in the last analysis is imposed upon the indi...

In the words with which this book is inscribed, Bishop Butler conveys with directness and gravity the conviction that morality is neither a mystery nor a convention, but simply...

[2] I have treated this matter more fully in my _Approach to Philosophy_, Chapters III and IV. At the close of that book the reader will find a selected bibliography of the subj...

The higher activities of civilization, 171. The attempt to apply aesthetic standards to life, 172. The claim of art to exemption from moral criticism is based on misapprehension...

Summary of the content and logic of moral value, 72. Virtues as verified rules of life, 73. The material and formal aspects of morality, 74. Materialism and formalism due to exa...

The external principle: the pressure of an unfavorable environment, 130. The external and the internal principle, 131. The internally progressive type of society. The importance...

[14] _Cf._ Plato's _Republic_, _passim_, but especially Book IV. Plato makes the state analogous to the individual organism, requiring baser classes that shall permanently suppl...

The measure of religion, extensive and intensive, 218. The test of truth the fundamental test, 220. The therapeutic test, and its confusion of the issue, 222. The two forms of t...

Modern individualism, 34. Distinguished from scepticism, 36. The individual as the organ of knowledge, 37. Moral individualism as a protest against convention, 39. Duty as the r...

The moral organization of life, 13. Definition of the terms of moral value. Moral goodness: the fulfilment of an economy of interests, 15. Moral goodness and pleasure, 16. Right...

[1] The nearest approach to such a philosophy of history is George Santayana's Life of Reason. The reader will find it the best book of reference for this and the following chap...

[14] Maurice Maeterlinck: _The Measure of the Hours_, translated by A. T. de Mattos, p. 151. The essay in this volume, entitled "Our Anxious Morality," charges rationalism with...

[7] Huxley: _Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays_, pp. 81-82. The first two essays contained in this volume, the _Prolegomena_, and the _Romanes Lecture_, contain a very inter...

[4] The classic discussion of the whole matter is to be found in Aristotle's _Nicomachean Ethics_, Book I, Chapters I-VI, translated by J. E. C. Welldon. _Cf._ also Fr. Paulsen:...

The phrase "philosophy of history" is at present somewhat in disrepute. It enjoys much the same unpopularity among historians as does the term "metaphysics" among scientists, an...

[6] For further discussion of the meaning of duty, _cf._ Kant's _Critical Examination of the Practical Reason_, Book I, Chapter III, translated in Abbott's _Kant's Theory of Eth...