it made an independent science; and yet one may be compelled to admit
that it is not easy to comprehend and to estimate the value of many of
the ethical theories which have been evolved in the past, without having
rather an intimate acquaintance with the history of philosophy. The
ethical teachings of Plato, of Aristotle, of St. Thomas, of Kant, of
Hegel, of Green, lose much of their meaning when taken out of their
setting. The history of ethical theory is blind when divorced from the
history of philosophy, and with the history of ethical theory the
moralist should be acquainted.

The philosopher has no prescriptive right to preempt the field of ethics.
Many men may cultivate it with profit. Nevertheless, he, too, should
cultivate it, not independently and with a disregard of what has been
done by others, but in a spirit of hearty cooperation, thankfully
accepting such help as is offered him by his neighbors.




CHAPTER VII

THE AIM OF ETHICS AS SCIENCE


19. THE APPEAL TO REASON.--The proper aim of the scientific study of
ethics appears to be suggested with sufficient clearness by what has been
said in the chapters on the accepted content of morals.

Where individuals take up unreflectively the maxims which are to control
their conduct, human life can scarcely be said to be under the guidance