It is thus plain that there is no fundamental difference between ethics and any other science. Just as the business of physical science is to describe the conditions under which any phenomenon occurs, so the business of ethical science is to ascertain, by a study of the mechanisms of human behavior, the conditions which underlie all of our ethical values. Wisely indeed did Protagoras remark that “Man is the measure of all things,” but it was not until many centuries after this statement had been made that a positively constructive interpretation, could be put upon it.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] George Clarke Cox, “The Public Conscience,” p. 25.
CHAPTER X
THE ACQUISITION OF AN ETHICAL TECHNIQUE
“One of the reasons why pantheistic revery has been so popular is that it seems to offer a painless substitute for genuine spiritual effort.... When pushed to a certain point the nature cult always tends towards sham spirituality.
‘Oh world as God has made it
All is beauty,
And knowing this is love, and
Love is duty,
What further can be sought for or desired?’