UNIV. The Elements of Ethics By J. H. MUIRHEAD, M.A. LECTURER IN MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE, ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE, EGHAM; Τὰ καθήκοντα ὡς ἐπίπαν ταῖς σχεσεσιν παραμετρεῖται EPICTETUS "There is no other genuine enthusiasm for humanity than one which BJ1025 18 University Extension Manuals, Edited by PROFESSOR KNIGHT. 51173 EDITOR'S PREFACE. This Series is primarily designed to aid the University Extension Movement throughout Great Britain and America, and to supply the need, so widely felt by students, of Text-books for study and reference, in connection with the authorised Courses of Lectures. The Manuals differ from those already in existence in that they are not intended for School use, or for Examination purposes; and that their aim is to educate, rather than to inform. The statement of details is meant to illustrate the working of general laws, and the development of principles; while the historical evolution of the subject dealt with is kept in view, along with its philosophical significance. The remarkable success which has attended University Extension in Britain has been partly due to the combination of scientific treatment with popularity, and to the union of simplicity with thoroughness. This movement, however, can only reach those resident in the larger centres of population, while all over the country there are thoughtful persons who desire the same kind of teaching. It is for them also that this Series is designed. Its aim is to supply the general reader with the same kind of teaching as is given in the Lectures, and to reflect the spirit which has characterised the movement, viz., the combination of principles with facts, and of methods with results. The Manuals are also intended to be contributions to the Literature of the Subjects with which they respectively deal, quite apart from University Extension; and some of them will be found to meet a general rather than a special want. They will be issued simultaneously in England and America. Volumes dealing with separate sections of Literature, Science, Philosophy, History, and Art have been assigned to representative literary men, to University Professors, or to Extension Lecturers connected with Oxford, Cambridge, London, and the Universities of Scotland and Ireland. A list of the works in this Series will be found at the end of the 51173 volume. § 38. BOOK III. $37. Problem arising out of results hitherto reached Fundamental error of the theory based on inadequate $ 49. Is pleasure the only motive? Re-statement of Hedon- § 1. How can there be a Problem at all? PHILOSOPHY, said Plato, begins in wonder. The child who wonders why her wax doll shuts its eyes, or her kitten wags its tail, has already set forward on the path that leads to philosophy and science. [The differences among \us that distinguish learned from ignorant depend merely upon the extent to which we have carried our wonder whether we are content to acquiesce in superficial answers, or still find our wonder unsatisfied, and press on with a new question so soon as our first is answered. Thus, astronomy begins in the wonder and perplexity caused by the contradictions and confusions of the apparent movements of the heavens. The various systems that have succeeded one another-the Ptolemaic, the Copernican, the Newtonian-have differed only in the relative satisfactoriness of the solutions they have offered. The question I propose to discuss in this chapter is, What kind of wonder is that in which Ethics begins? To what does that wonder attach ? How does it first rise? How does it express itself? The question of the precise subject-matter of ethics is deferred. Here I would ask why should there be a science of ethics at all, rather |