YOUR MIND AND HOW TO USE IT/PART 14
CHAPTER XIV.
The Social Emotions.
AS
man became a social animal he developed new traits of character, new habits of
action, new ideals, new customs, and consequently new emotions. Emotions long
entertained and long manifested by the race become more or less instinctive,
and are passed along in the form of either (a) inherited stimulus akin
to, but lesser in degree and force than, the more elemental emotions; or (b)
of inherited tendency to manifest the acquired emotional
feeling upon the presentation of sufficiently strong stimuli. Hence arises that
which we have called "the social emotions."
Under
the classification of "the social emotions" are those acquired
tendencies of action and feeling of the race which are more or less altruistic,
and are concerned with the welfare of others and one's duties and obligations
toward society and our fellow men. In this class are found the emotions which
impel us to perform what we consider or feel to be our duty toward our
neighbors, and our obligations and duty toward the state, as expressed in its
laws, the customs of men of our country, or the ideals of the community. In
another phase it manifests as sympathy, fellow feeling, and
"kindness" in general. In its first phase we find civic virtue,
law-abiding inclination, honesty, "square dealing," and patriotism;
in its second phase we find sympathy for others, charity, mutual aid, the
alleviation of poverty and suffering, the erection of asylums for orphans and
the aged, hospitals for the sick, and the formation of societies for general
charitable work.
In
many cases we find the social, ethical, and moral emotions closely allied with
religious emotion, and by many these are supposed to be practically identical,
but there is a vast difference in spite of their frequent association. For
instance, we find many persons of high civic virtue, of exalted moral ideals,
and manifesting ethical qualities of the most advanced type, who are lacking in
the ordinary religious feelings. On the other hand, we too frequently find
persons professing great religious zeal, and apparently experiencing the most
intense religious emotional feeling, who are deficient in social, civic, ethical,
and moral qualities, in the best sense of these terms. The aim of all religion
worthy of the name, however, is to encourage ethical and moral as well as
religious emotions.
We
must here make the distinction between those manifesting the actions termed ethical
and moral because they feel that way, and those who merely
comply with the conventional requirements because they fear the
consequences of their violation. The first class have the true social,
ethical, and moral feelings, tastes, ideals, and inclinations; while the second
manifest merely the elementary feelings of self-preservation and selfish
prudence. The first class are "good" because they feel that way and
find it natural to be so; while the others are "good" merely because
they have to be or be punished by legal penalty or public opinion, loss of
prestige, loss of financial support, etc.
The
social, moral, and ethical emotions are believed to have arisen in the race by
reason of the association of individuals in communities and the rise of the necessity
for mutual aid and forbearance. Even many of the species of the lower animals
have social, moral, or ethical codes of their own, based on the experience of
the species or family, infractions of which they punish severely. In the same
way sympathy and the altruistic feelings are supposed to have arisen. The
community of interest and understanding in the tribe, family, or clan brought
not only the feeling of natural defense and protection but also the finer,
inner sympathetic feeling of the pains and sufferings of their associates.
This, in the progress of the race, has developed into broader and more complex
ideals and feelings.
Theology
explains the moral feelings as resulting from conscience, which it holds
to be a special faculty of the mind, or soul, divinely given. Science, while
admitting the existence of the state of feelings which we call
"conscience," denies its supernatural origin, and ascribes it to the
result of evolution, heredity, experience, education, and suggestion. Conscience,
according to science, is a compound of intellectual and emotional states.
Conscience is not an invariable or infallible guide, but depends
entirely upon the heredity, education, experience, and environment of the
individual. It accompanies the moral and ethical codes of the race, which
vary with time and with country. Actions which were thought right a century ago
are condemned now; likewise, things condemned a century ago are thought right
now. What is commended in Turkey is condemned in England, and vice versa. Moral
tastes and ideals, like æsthetic ones, vary with time and country. There is no
absolute code which has been always true, in all places. There is an evolution
in the ideals of morals and ethics as in everything else, and
"conscience" and the moral and ethical emotions accompany the
changing ideals.
Many
of the moral and ethical principles originally arose from necessity or utility,
but have since developed into natural, spontaneous feeling on the part of the
race. It is held that the race is rapidly developing a "social
conscience" which will cause the wiping out of many social conditions
which are now the disgrace of civilization. It is predicted that in time the
race will look back upon the existence of poverty in our civilization as our
generation now looks back upon the existence of slavery, imprisonment for debt,
capital punishment for the theft of a loaf of bread, the killing of prisoners
of war, etc. It is thought that, in time, wars of conquest will be deemed as
utterly immoral as to-day is regarded the murder of a body of men by a band of
pirates or bandits. In the same way the economic slavery of to-day will be seen
as immoral as now seems the physical slavery of the past. In not far distant
time it will seem incredible that society could have ever allowed one of its
members to die of hunger in the streets, or of poverty and inattention in the
sick room of the hovel. Not only will the ideals and feelings of ethical and
moral responsibility change and evolve, but the feelings of personal sympathy
will evolve in accordance therewith. At least such is the dream and prophecy of
some of the world's greatest thinkers.
The
social, ethical, and moral emotions may be developed by a study of the
evolution and meaning of society on the one hand, and the perception of the
condition of the lives of less fortunate individuals on the other. The first
will awaken new ideas of the history and real meaning of social
association and mutual intercourse, and will develop a new sense of
responsibility, duty, and civic and social pride. The second will awaken
understanding and sympathy, and a desire to do what one can to help those who
are "the under dog," and also to bring about a better state of
affairs in general. The study of history and civilization, of sociology and
civics, will do much in the first direction. The study of human-kind, and its
life problems and condition, will do the same in the second case. In both cases
there will be awakened a new sense of "right and wrong"—a new
conception of "ought and ought not"—regarding one's relations to the
race, society, and his fellow beings.
Let
no one deceive himself or herself by the smug assumption that the race has
entirely emerged from barbarism and is now on the top wave of civilization. The
truth, as known to all careful and conscientious thinkers, is that we are
but half civilized, if, indeed, that much. Many of our customs
and conventions are those of a half-barbarous people. Our ideals are low, our
customs often vile. We lack not only high ideals but in many cases we show a
lack of sanity in our social conventions. But evolution is moving us slowly
ahead. A better day is dawning. The signs are in the air, to be seen by all
thoughtful men. Civilization is climbing the ladder, aided by the
evolution of the social, ethical, and moral emotions and the development of the
intellect.
In
connection with this phase of the emotions, we invite the student to consider
the following excellent words of Professor Davidson in his "History of
Greek Education": "It is not enough for a man to understand the
conditions of rational life in his own time. He must likewise love these
conditions and hate whatever leads to life of an opposite
kind. This is only another way of saying that he must love the good and hate
the evil; for the good is simply what conduces to rational or moral life, and
the evil simply what leads away from it. It is perfectly obvious, as soon as it
is pointed out, that all immoral life is due to a false distribution of
affection, which again is often, though by no means always, due to a want of
intellectual cultivation. He that attributes to anything a value greater or
less than it really possesses, in the order of things, has already placed
himself in a false relation to it, and will certainly, when he comes to act with
reference to it, act immorally."
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