Christian Ethics. The _second_ part
will be devoted to man as moral subject, and will analyse the
capacities of the soul which respond to the calls and claims of the new
Life. The _third_ Section will involve a consideration of the
formative Principles of Character, the moulding of the soul, the
Ideals, Motives and Forces by means of which the 'New Man' is
'recreated' and fashioned. _Finally_, under Conduct, the Virtues,
Duties and Rights of man will be discussed; and the various spheres of
service and institutions of society examined in relation to which the
moral life in its individual and social aspects is manifested and
developed.

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SECTION A

POSTULATES

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CHAPTER I

THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF ETHICS

Philosophy has been defined as 'thinking things together.' Every man,
says Hegel, is a philosopher, and in so far as it is the natural
tendency of the human mind to connect and unify the manifold phenomena
of life, the paradox of the German thinker is not without a measure of
truth. But while this is only the occasional pastime of the ordinary
individual, it is the conscious and habitual aim of the philosopher.
In daily life people are wont to make assumptions which they do not
verify, and employ figures of speech which of necessity are partial and
inadequate. It is the business of philosophy to investigate the
pre-suppositions of common life and to translate into realities the
pictures of ordinary language. It was the method of Socrates to
challenge the current modes of speaking and to ask his fellow-men what
they meant when they used such words as 'goodness,' 'virtue,'
'justice.' Every time you employ any of these terms, he said, you
virtually imply a whole theory of life. If you would have an
intelligent understanding of yourself and the world of which you form a
part, you must cease to live by custom and speak by rote. You must
seek to bring the manifold phenomena of the universe and the various
experiences of life into some kind of unity and see them as
co-ordinated parts of a whole.

When men thus begin to reflect on the origin and connection of things,
three questions at once suggest themselves--what, how, and why? What
is the world? How do I know it? and why am I here? We might briefly
classify the three great departments of human thought as attempts {10}
to answer these three inquiries. What exists is the problem of
Metaphysics. What am I and how do I know? is the questio