e diel, 7 tetor 2007

III



III.--He discusses the Summum Bonum, or Happiness, only with reference
to his Ethical theory. The attaining of the objects of our desires
yields Enjoyment or Pleasure, which cannot be the supreme end of life,
being distinguished from, and opposed to, Duty. Happiness is Pleasure
and Duty combined and harmonized by Wisdom. "As moral beings, our
Happiness must be found in our Moral Progress, and in the consequences
of our Moral Progress; we must be happy by being virtuous."




CONSCIOUSNESS LIKENED TO A FIELD



CONSCIOUSNESS LIKENED TO A FIELD.--The consciousness of any moment has
been less happily likened to a field, in the center of which there is an
elevation higher than the surrounding level. This center is where
consciousness is piled up on the object which is for the moment foremost
in our thought. The other objects of our consciousness are on the margin
of the field for the time being, but any of them may the next moment
claim the center and drive the former object to the margin, or it may
drop entirely out of consciousness. This moment a noble resolve may
occupy the center of the field, while a troublesome tooth begets
sensations of discomfort which linger dimly on the outskirts of our
consciousness; but a shooting pain from the tooth or a random thought
crossing the mind, and lo! the tooth holds sway, and the resolve dimly
fades to the margin of our consciousness and is gone.




The girls with a desire for adventure seem confined to this one dubious



outlet even more than the boys, although there are only one-eighth as
many delinquent girls as boys brought into the juvenile court in
Chicago, the charge against the girls in almost every instance involves
a loss of chastity
The girls with a desire for adventure seem confined to this one dubious
outlet even more than the boys, although there are only one-eighth as
many delinquent girls as boys brought into the juvenile court in
Chicago, the charge against the girls in almost every instance involves
a loss of chastity. One of them who was vainly endeavoring to formulate
the causes of her downfall, concentrated them all in the single
statement that she wanted the other girls to know that she too was a
'good Indian.' Such a girl, while she is not an actual member of a gang
of boys, is often attached to one by so many loyalties and friendships
that she will seldom testify against a member, even when she has been
injured by him. She also depends upon the gang when she requires bail in
the police court or the protection that comes from political influence,
and she is often very proud of her quasi-membership. The little girls
brought into the juvenile court are usually daughters of those poorest
immigrant families living in the worst type of city tenements, who are
frequently forced to take boarders in order to pay the rent. A
surprising number of little girls have first become involved in
wrong-doing through the men of their own households. A recent inquiry
among 130 girls living in a sordid red light district disclosed the fact
that a majority of them had thus been victimized and the wrong had come
to them so early that they had been despoiled at an average age of eight
years. Looking upon the forlorn little creatures, who are often brought
into the Chicago juvenile court to testify against their own relatives,
one is seized with that curious compunction Goethe expressed in the now
hackneyed line from 'Mignon:'




NOT A WILL, BUT WILLS



NOT A WILL, BUT WILLS.--First of all we need to remember that, just as
we do not have a memory, but a system of memories, so we do not possess
a will, but many different wills. By this I mean that the will must be
called upon and tested at every point of contact in experience before we
have fully measured its strength. Our will may have served us reasonably
well so far, but we may not yet have met any great number of hard tests
because our experience and temptations have been limited.




The change in manners cannot be denied; but the alleged change in morals



is not sustained by a great amount of positive evidence
The change in manners cannot be denied; but the alleged change in morals
is not sustained by a great amount of positive evidence. The customs of
former generations were such that children often manifested in their
exterior deportment a deference which they did not feel, while at
present there may be more real respect for station, and deference for
age and virtue, than are exhibited in juvenile life. In this
explanation, if it be true, there is matter for serious thought; but I
should not deem it wise to encourage a mere outward show of the social
virtues, which have no springs of life in the affections.