Page 187

Page 187

187 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Ethics

social life, and history of mankind, as well as of a scientific preparation for these observations by means of psychology, political economy, and practical philosophy.

In the matter of method the first question that arises is, whether the presentation should be dogmatic or descriptive. While 6. Method the ethics of earlier Protestantism, of Presen- rationalism, and the philosophy of

tation. Kant, like their contemporary super naturalism, set forth its subject in the form of moral requirements-that is, in dogmatic fashion, Schleiermacher declared that Christian ethics was a description of that course of con duct which arises from the domination of relig ious consciousness as determined by Christianity. Among those who followed him in this descriptive method, special mention may be made of J. C. K. von Hofmann. This method has a sort of justifi cation as opposed to a purely dogmatic treatment. The latter has somewhat of an Old Testament stripe, and corresponds to the character of Roman Catholic ethics, which is invariably inclined to separate the moral life from the central root of belief and dissolve it into a multitude of duties individually commanded. But the purely de scriptive method is inadequate; for the moral law is not, as Schleiermacher supposed, merely a higher form of the natural law, whose operations can be described with absolute certainty, but is specifically distinguished from it in that it does not work with mechanical necessity, but counts on the ftPednrr~pt the h_mon 'ww, tl Since the normal development of the Christian life does not appear absolutely unimpaired in any Christian, normal Christian morality is, in part, simply a matter of moral obligation. A second, and not unimportant, methodological problem is the arrangement of ethics (cf. J. Kostlin, TSK, 1879, p. X22). Formerly ethics was fre quently divided into three parts: ethics (the theory of Christian morality), ascetical theology (general practical rules), and casuistica (considerations of individual problems of difficulty). Casuistics must, however, be excluded as opposed to Evangelical principles; while the K n ian dipiainn sntn DLL and applied ethics results in empty abstracti.ns or the rst part. Many] Lheo ogr~ans, ~ including R. Rothe, P. C. Marheineke, C. Werner, J. P. Lange, and Krarup, have applied to Christian ethics Schleiermacher's division of philosophical ethics into three main categories based on the three ethical principles of moral good, virtue, and duty. This scheme is, however, peculiarly unsuited for Christian ethics, since these three basal principles can not be developed independently of each other in a Christian sense. To proceed from the concept of salvation, as does G. C. A. Harless, who makes the threefold division of the boon of salvation, the possession of salvation, and the assurance of sal vation, corresponds in no wise to the character of ethics; nor does a division according to the different forms of human activity harmonize with the essen tial nature of Christian morality. It is equally in adequate to make a distinction between internal and external, as does Hofmann (similarly C. E. Luthardt,

who distinguishes the person, the intention, and the works of the Christian); or as does Kostlin, who makes the classification on the basis of (1) the life of the inner man, and (2) his external activity. F. H. R. Frank's division, which distinguishes the development of the man of God as related to himself, to the spiritual world, and to the natural world, is influenced too one-sidedly by the concept of becoming. Far better is H. Weiss's division into (1) premises or factors, (2) the process of formation of Christian morality, and (3) the manifold phenomena of Christian personality both' in the life of virtue led by the individual and in the most important relations of social life. The first two divisions, however, are far more closely connected with each other than with the third, so that it is better to combine them into a first general division, to which corresponds the second special division with its two subdivisions of individual and social Christian morality.

(Ethics is th~a._o*,~ r,f conduct. As such it is concerned with the ideal as it has been developed F _E _11. - _ __Cus-t~ _~see CON- h oulndi~d_ir ana-SEZ&F ic-i-ENcim, § 7). Its function is twofold; first to., ascertain the highest word on the nature of the goal of human life; second, to indicate how this may be reached. If the summum bonxcm is conceived as the common good, then the end is social and the indi vidual is both means and end for its realization. Ethics passes by imperceptible gradations into po litical science and sociology. In distinction from esthetics, which deals with judgments of feeling, ethics is concerned with judgments of ends realized by the will. It depends upon psychology in its analysis of the processes through which motives are constituted and the freedom of the will dis closed, and upon metaphysics for a view of the world in which the human ideal takes its place as a constituent part of reality. Until recently the term " moral philosophy " was used to characterize this discipline in Great Britain and America. Of late, however, the term " ethics " has rapidly gained ground, and is now almost universally employed to designate this subject. C. A. B.j

II. History: The history of ethics as a science can here be sketched only in outline. In the theology of the early Church ethics

:. The found no strictly systematic presenEarly tation, while the fundamental views Church. of ethics were frequently at variance with the spirit of the Gospel. Together with a morally debasing concept of belief as the receiving of traditional teaching, the tendency arose to enact external legal regulations for the moral life which had thus been robbed of its religious basis. To make matters worse, this legalism was sought only in an ascetic life which renounced the world, so that a double morality, a higher and a lower, was evolved. For the preservation of the moral laws, as well as of traditional doctrine as a whole, a hierarchic organization, united with external authority, was deemed necessary, so that all Christianity was considered essentially a new law. In the West this legalistic tendency was imprinted on the Church under the influence of the Roman spirit. This is first very