IV

MORAL STANDARDS AND THE MORAL ORDER

There is only one moral order of the universe--one range of moral as of
physical law. For instance, the law of gravitation--simplest of
physical principles--holds the last star in the abyss of space, rounds
the dew-drop on the petal of a spring violet and determines the symmetry
of living organisms; but it is one and unchanging, a fundamental pull in
the nature of matter itself. So with moral laws: they are not
superadded to life by some divine or other authority. They are simply
the fundamental principles in the nature of life itself, which we must
obey to grow and be happy.

If the moral order is one and unchanging, man does change in relation to
it, and moral standards are relative to the stage of his growth.
History is filled with illustrations of this relativity of ethical
standards.

For instance: human slavery doubtless began as an act of beneficence on
the part of some philanthropist well in advance of his age. The first
man who, in the dim dawn of history, said to the captive he had made in
war, "I will not kill you and eat you; I will let you live and work for
me the rest of your life": that man instituted human slavery; but it was
distinctly a step upward, from something that had been far worse.

Homer represents Ulysses as the favorite pupil of Pallas Athena, goddess