Professional Documents
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Wallace Ethics and Sociology 1898
Wallace Ethics and Sociology 1898
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tion, of the one ideal and universal state which is also the
one universal church; ever, "faith become a passionate in-
tuition" that the Son of Man is also the Son of God, the
heir of infiniteaspirations, which cannot be realised fully
in anything short of universal brotherhood, and in the
ultimate conformity of actions to the true reasonable life of
collectivehumanity.
Thus, if man is the portion of a system, with his place
and duties dependent upon his position, he is also the
creator of the organisation: and it is in his individual
consciousness that the dry bones of legal and social rules
gain the power of an organic and organisingidea. He is
not a mere blank sheet on which societyimprintsthe texts
which expound its interests. Too often indeed man does
little but reflecthis environment: and orthodox authority
has many means forsecuring his conformity. And for the
average human being the sense of social sympathywhen he
acts in the general interestis a useful criterionof conduct.
But even then,the individualhelps to make the verdict to
which he conforms: he is in part creator of the social
standard. And in other cases the individual may lead the
societyafterhim-especially when they see that he is free
from selfish motive and has the clear vision of reality.
There are times when the individualmust set social decisions
aside. There is an honour in the eyes of society which
stands rooted in dishonour: a social sanction which ought
to be withstood. The individual appeals from the society
which is, to the societywhich he sees by the eye of faith,
ready to be revealed: the sturdyindependent,if his inde-
pendence is foundedupon insight,comes to lay the basis of
a new social code: and even the blood of the martyrs
certifiesthe growthof the church. Always the social code
requires-if progressis to be the law of life,and if ethics as
the science of ideals is to survive-to be extended and per-
fected by continued discoveries in the immense range of
those conditionsof true human life,wherein lies the infinite
problemforhuman faculties.
The provinceof ethics thus divides into two departments.
On the one hand, thereis the theoryof individualman, first,
on his naturalside,as a subject of psychologicalinvestigation,
as a creatureofsense and emotionand desire: and, secondly,
as a reason,withthe facultyof ideas and ideals. The theory
of knowledge,of its conditionsand the evidence theybear to
a unityofprincipleunderlyingeven the senses and feelings,-
the doctrine of reason, as the ultimate formerof emotion
and shaper of action, constitutes what we may call the
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