The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-04-21
THE PR ES s.
THURSDAY, APRIL 2I.
Social Science.

Social Science.
Some venturous individual in the Com
mercial now and then makes descent
upon the regions of philosophy, and de-
lights himself and the readers of that
print with the discussion of questions of
whichsit is evident he has but an imper-
feet comprehension. The last attempt of
the kind was, in substance, an inquiry
whether the MORALS Of a people improve
with the advance Of CIVILIZATION, in which
a considerable display Of word-windiness
was the only appreciable result The
question is one upon which there has been
good deal of barren disputation, in and
out of Juvenile debating societies: the
cause of which barrenness, as in the case
of the Commercial, is evidently in the fact
that reason attempted to decide without
settling in the first place what was to be
decided, The questions, "What is Moral
ity2" and "What is Civilization?" are
things which the smatterer may deem too
simple to require response: the more,
however, the mind dwells upon the sub
ject, the more apparent will it become that
the solution of the inquiry resides in the
definition of its terms
What is Morality? In order to deter
mine what is morality, it will be neces-
sary, in the first place, to establish some
standard to which the acts Of men may be
brought to test their moral quality For
two or three thousand years, numberless
writers have been laboring to fix such a
standard, but without success. He who
shall perform this service to the satisfac-
tion of the general consciousness, will take
away the reproach that clings to the science
OF morals-that it is not progressive
either by supplying what is wanted to
make it So or by showing the absence of
all necessity for its advance. Until we
know precisely and unequivocally what
morality is, it will be idle either to specu-
late upon, or to attempt to measure its in
crease or its decline; and without such
measurement, there can be no progress
as there never yet has benin the set
tlement Of any inquiry touching the rela-
tions which it holds to civilization.
What is Civilization2 This is large
question, and grows larger the more tits con-
templated. What constitutes civilization
and what does it include? What are its
elements, and what those things which,
when we find them associated with it, we
are to eliminate as accidental? Is it a
stationary or a progressive state2 Is its
basis material or intellectual, or'religious,
or moral, or political2 Does it consist in
positive learning, or intellectual activity
or in institutional excellence, or progress
in the arts and sciences, or the general
acceptance of theological or ethical dog
mas, or in an exalted social condition
The author of the History of Civilization
in Europe" did not attempt to define his
subject with accuracy, but, on the con
trary, acknowledged his inability so to do
Civilization, said he, sis so general in its
nature that it can scarcely be seized; so
complicated that it can scarcely be un-
raveled; so hidden as scarcely to be dis
cernible." UNTIL therefore, the philoso-
pier of the Commercial can do that which
NJ GUTzoT, with all his genius and learn
ing, was afraid to undertake, this one of
his terms will 60 without definition, and
he will be without the means to determine
its relation to the other
There is a way, however, to dispose of
thisquestion, withoutthe labor of these def
initions: that is to say by showing that as
one of its terms necessarily includes the
other it is no question. And this is the
truth. As virtue is individual morality,
so morals is social virtue; and civilization
is the expression Of the aggregate virtue
andmorality. Moral science is the science
of society social desert is moral desert
Civilization is an improved condition of
man resulting from the establishment of
social order" which being true, the ques-
tion so much mooted disappears by the
absorption of one Of its elements.