endencies. Hedonism
appears as the sequel to naturalism; or, more rarely, as part of a
theistic system whose morality is divine legislation enforced by an
appeal to motives of pleasure and pain. Rationalism, on the other hand,
tends to be absorbed in rationalistic or idealistic philosophies, where
man's rational nature is construed as his bond of kinship with the
universe.

Ethics has exhibited from the beginning a tendency to universalize its
conceptions and take the central place in metaphysics. Thus with Plato
good conduct was but a special case of goodness, the good being the most
general principle of reality.[198:12] In modern times Fichte and his
school have founded an ethical metaphysics upon the conception of
duty.[198:13] In these cases ethics can be distinguished from
metaphysics only by adding to the study of the good or of duty, a study
of the special physical, psychological, and social conditions under
which goodness and dutifulness may obtain in human life. It is possible
to attach the name of ethics, and we have seen the same to be true of
logic, either to a realm of ideal truth or to that realm wherein the
ideal is realized in humanity.

[Sidenote: The Virtues, Customs, and Institutions.]

Sect. 85. A systematic study of ethics requires that the _virtues_, or
types of moral practice, shall be interpreted in the light of the
central conception of good, or of conscience. _Justice_, _temperance_,
_wisdom_, and _courage_ were praised by the Greeks. Christianity added
_self-sacrifice_, _humility_, _purity_, and _benevolence_. These and
other virtues have been defined, justified, and co-ordinated with the
aid of a standard of moral value or a canon of duty.

There is in modern ethics a pronounced tendency, parallel to those
already noted in logic and aesthetics, to study such phenomena belonging
to its field as have become historically established. A very
considerable investigation of _custom_, _institutions_, and other social
forces has led to a contact of ethics with anthropology and sociology
scarcely less significant than that with metaphysics.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: The Problems of Religion. The Special Interests of Faith.]

Sect. 86. In that part of his philosophy in which he deals with faith,
the great German philosopher Kant mentions God, Freedom, and Immortality
as the three pre-eminent religious interests. Religion, as we have seen,
sets up a social relationship