Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1878-11-14
JOHN STUART BLACKIE
As q MOralist and Philosophical
Poet.
Correspondence OF the Register.

we 90 not auNdHct Ou uchai WI SohH
Stuart Blackie any claims to special
greatness as writer on morals. lie Is
not an originator OF moral system,
His writings will mark no epoch in the
history oi moral science rs did those OF
Hobbies, Hume, Hartly or Bentham; nor
do We expect him to reproduce himself
to the same degree in our age or SO
deeply to impress himself upon it as
will Sidgwick, Calderwood, or even Nc
Gosh. He Is an interpreter of moral
systems rather than n founder, while at
the same time his writings in this field
are not in form that is best adapted
to ensure permanency. They are not
embodied in one consecutive treatise,
they consist simply OF essays origi-
nally delivered as lectures, and although
there Is clear consecutiveness and close
connection, or Us he himself puts it, "a
unit Of thought and tendency" in them
all-at least in his -Four Phdscs Of Morals
still such writings are apt to impress
readers with the appearance OF fragment
ariness and detacheiness, and 50 to
have with them proportionately less
weight.
Il is in the -Four PhaseS Of Morals espc.
cially that we learn his views on moral
science, and 10 which oi the great schools
of thought in this department he ad-
heres. The book embraces four essays
ar disauisitions on iour OF the most i'm
portant subjects that could engage the
thoughts oi noralists, aud with which
one must he thoroughly familiar, II he
would grasp fully the past and present
issues of the whole field. As our author
himself SAYS, at is difficult he might
have written impossible for a man Ia
write well on morals with an entire
disregard of Aristotle and Plato, and
with n fashionable Partisan con-
tempt for the New Testament (p. 322).
And so the themes here, in the order oi
their discussion, are SOcrdtcs, lr'sfoac,
Ihristianiiy, and tHiitdriaHtsm. We have
not the time To direct the attention oi
the reader to these essays seratiln, or
to any of them minutely. Suffice II to
say to him that il he has already und der-
stood we'll these themes, he may under
stand them better by reading Blachle.
Even one who has read Grote on the
| Sophists, or Iewes' great work on Ar
istotle, will not no losing time by pcrus-
| ing his views on these. With regard To
the Sophists may say that he disscnts
| from the high praises pronounced upon
| them bv irutc and lcwcs, and accepts
the more general judgment, and the one
| for which Plato laid the justification.
"Thcy were a class oi scli-constitutcd
popuiar teachers teaching the art "oi
| turning the poi IT OF an argument, or en-
| tangling III net al suh,''l'S
any experic ,ccd jury, and as
the crownlng accomplishment, ot n
Of faculty of speech, alert ami unscrn-
| pulous, which might never lack shut
| To- give plausibility to a bad cause, aud
| a constant readiness Ia conlound, over
whcln, and dazzle when il was hopeless
| to reiutc." And We think that this
Judgment will he the lasting one; and
| that lust ~ long a. the term Sph,stiy
continues tu bear the Specification that
| il now does the arguments OF Grote aud
Icwcs will he as unavailing in revising
| this Judgment a. will the efforts oi Hep
worth Dixon, in relieving from oppro-
blum the character Of Bacon, :" long as
the popular ear is familiar with Ropes
! damnatory line
The wtS,st, brightest, mesnest Of mankind
venture to call attention to another
| point in this article on Socrates, and tins
| think ot more importance than that
lust mentioned. suppose there are
| hut few students who on reading the
Dialogues oi Plato have not been greatly
| puzzlcd over the question, What in all
| this il Platos? And what is Socrates?
Ii all belonged really To Socrates that
Plato put into his mouth, then where ls
the proof of Plato's own profound PHI
losophy? and how came he To- have the
reputation that he has? BlacSie has
| undertaken to furnish us with a KEY To
this dark chamber, and We think that IT
| will scry, To- unlock the door. Ii is
this:
with regard to the doctrines that are
nut into Socrates mouth lin these dla-
inpuesl We must be constantly on our
guard; and, indeed, according To my
yiew, IL is wi.s nerer 10 accept day sidi,p'cnt
Of Socrates dociriuc from Plato ot ehtch III,
1trm nt ieda dots not Il. plainly m Ao'o'
phon.'
Nv impression is that il this criterion
were applied rigidly to the Dialogues
Socrates would be shorn oi much OF the
glory diaiectic with which he is now
crowned, and Plato would bc enhanced
and frightened proportionately, a. Ger
tainiy in the Memorabilia there IL not q
very promising germ Of such high dia
lectics a. are found in many uf Tho
dialogues. And this We believe. wouid
he correct and just hnding
for while no correct mind or right hear
would rob the legitimate crown OF socra
ties of a single gem, il yet must tie ac
knowlalged that although Socrates
Me,hof was the dialectic, II was as
practical moralist rather than dialecti
| clan in the high Platonic sense OF TIM
term that he excelled, and for which h'
merits praise. =
Ne are h,ore concerned here, bowey
e,, with our authors views OF morals
| III ~ here esINSAhy tiia, uese .'""SS y y
lectures evince the unit ol thought
which he claims for them. And thin|
We may designate that anti OF though a
anii.,uilitaridaisIa This undoubtedl
runs thread-iike through all the essays
only in the last il is discussed more for
maily and elaborately. Moral Philoso
pliers are divided into two gr,at school
the Iaiuaiondl and the ttaitaridf
The former oi these maintains "ths
there is a rightness and wrongness tia
belong tn actions In themselves, an
independent oi their conduciyeness {
any ulterior end; and that th
presence Of the quality is ascel
tanned by simply looking at the a.
tions themselves, without considerin
their consequences. tSidgricf' H,tho.f
D. s5.) The doctrines Of the latter scho'
are thus stated by J. ;. Mill in his won
ed perspicuous style The cree
which accepts, as the found,tion
> morals, Utility, or the Grcaies'-happ
(; ness Principle, holds that actions Al
: | r;,,ht in nrar,l lrtiau as they tend to prS