Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-07-20
Prominent Ministers and
Scientists Answer State
( ment Made by Professor at
Harvard Commencement

NEW YORK.-Can right and
wrong be determined by test tube
and microscope?
Shall. moral laws Of the future be
written from data compiled in the
laboratory of the scientist instead Of
from ancient ethical traditions
handed down in sacred books?
The suggestion that morals be
taken from the field of religion and
placed in the domain of science, adj
vanced by Professor William Nor
ris Davis, Phi Beta Kappa orator
at the Harvard commencement, has
stirred up nationwide discussion
and has become a center of conflict
ing opinions.
This is the passage in the profess
sor's address which has aroused the
discussion:
"Just as surely as all questions
of a geological or astronomical or
evolutionary nature have now been
permanently taken over from re-
lgion by their. respective sciences,
so conquest will be made Of all ques-
tions concerning right and wrong by
that division of science which con-
Germs itself with the natural his.
tory of goodness as matter of
purely human experience in con-
trast to goodness as a matter of
supernatural revelation.
1.-TWO great and growing, though
still young, branches of modern
science will contribute powerfully to
this conquest; they are eugenics and
psychiatry."
Every shade Of opinion, favorable
and adverse, is reflected in the state
ments of nationally and irfterna-
tionally known leaders Of thought
that have been gathered.
BY The Rev. John A. Ryan
professor Davis believes science
reduce it to history of human
goodness. The professor confounds
is with ought He forgets history
can tell us only what men have
done, not what they ought to do.
History can provide no standard of
right, no distinction between right
and wrong. Eugenics and psy.
chiatry may forecast certain eff.
fects; they cannot determine the
moral quality of these effects. No
physical science can disclose ethical
standards or yield ethical judgments.
The mental confusion betrayed by
Professor Davis is a pathetic refu-
tation of his thesis. It indicates
that the physical scientist should
let ethics alone; that the shoe
maker should stick to his last"
By Lothrop Stoddard
"When Professor Davis proclaim.
ed the application of science to
ethics he uttered message of good
cheer for our troublous times. Sci
ence is our pole STAR It is alike
our guide for the present and our
hope for the future. What distin.
guishes our civilization from past
civilizations is scientific knowledge
and the scientific spirit. To us
have been revealed secrets of life
our forebears never knew. And to
US has been vouchsafed a passion for
truth such as the world has never
seen. This quenchless love Of
truth, this spirit of science which
combines knowledge and faith in
the synthesis of a higher wisdom,
is our best promise for the cure of
present ills and for the regeneration
of the race"
BY CHARLES p. STEINMETZ
at entirely agree with Professor
Davis that all questions of right and
wrong belong to the field of science,
where they can be intelligently stud
led, and not to the emotional fancies
Of religion. So it was in the CLASH
cal civilizations of Greece and Rome.
But the Persians mixed morals and
religion and the Jews copied them
and thus the Christians. Every ed
ucated man, whose intelligence
reachesl beyond his immediate