enlightened morality of one people and the degraded and undeveloped
morality of another. There could be no history of the development of the
moral ideas. Collections of disparate and disconnected facts do not
constitute a science, nor are they the proper subject of a history.

As a matter of fact, we all do speak of degraded moral conceptions, of a
perverted conscience, of a lofty morality, of a fine sense of duty; we do
not hesitate to compare, i. e., to treat as similar and yet dissimilar,
the customs, laws and ethical maxims of different ages and of different
races. This means that we have in our minds some standard, perhaps
consciously formulated, perhaps dimly apprehended, according to which we
rate them. The unreflective man is in danger of taking as this standard
his own actual code, such as it is; of accepting, together with such
elements of reason as it may contain, the whole mass of his inherited or
acquired prejudices; the more reflective man will strive to be more
rationally critical.




PART II

ETHICS AS SCIENCE


CHAPTER IV

THE AWAKENING TO REFLECTION