The moral sense Fundamental proposition The qualities of social
animals Origin of sociability Struggle between opposed instincts Man a
social animal The more enduring social instincts conquer other less
persistent instincts The social virtues alone regarded by savages The
self-regarding virtues acquired at a later stage of development The
importance of the judgment of the members of the same community on
conduct Transmission of moral tendencies Summary.
I fully subscribe to the judgment of those writers (1. See, for
instance, on this subject, Quatrefages, Unite de l Espece Humaine,
1861, p. 21, etc.) who maintain that of all the differences between man
and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most
important. This sense, as Mackintosh (2. Dissertation on Ethical
Philosophy, 1837, p. 231, etc.) remarks, has a rightful supremacy
over every other principle of human action ; it is summed up in that
short but imperious word ought, so full of high significance. It is
the most noble of all the attributes of man, leading him without a
moment s hesitation to risk his life for that of a fellow-creature; or
after due deliberation, impelled simply by the deep feeling of right or
duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause. Immanuel Kant exclaims,
Duty! Wondrous thought, that workest neither by fond insinuation,
flattery, nor by any threat, but merely by holding up thy naked law in
the soul, and so extorting for thyself always reverence, if not always
obedience; before whom all appetites are dumb, however secretly they
rebel; whence thy original? (3. Metaphysics of Ethics, translated by
J.W. Semple, Edinburgh, 1836, p. 136.)
This great question has been discussed by many writers (4. Mr. Bain
gives a list ( Mental and Moral Science, 1868, pp. 543-725) of
twenty-six British authors who have written on this subject, and whose
names are familiar to every reader; to these, Mr. Bain s own name, and
those of Mr. Lecky, Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, Sir J. Lubbock, and others,
might be added.) of consummate ability; and my sole excuse for touching
on it, is the impossibility of here passing it over; and because, as
far as I know, no one has approached it exclusively from the side of
natural history. The investigation possesses, also, some independent
interest, as an attempt to see how far the study of the lower animals
throws light on one of the highest psychical faculties of man.
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