Though pedagogy has made great progress during recent years, it has concerned itself almost exclusively with the intellectual and the physical. The problem of education in morals has been scarcely touched. The reasons for this are (1) that moral instruction is consigned to the parents and the home; (2) that it is closely related to religious instruction; (3) that the old doctrine of the innateness of conscience carries the implication that moral teaching is futile. The writer is firmly convinced that there is no innate moral element whatever. Morality is essentially altruism as opposed to egoism. A moral act is one that has regard to the interest of all, and not merely of those of an isolated individual. Careful study of children from the earliest age forces the conclusion that they possess no moral consciousness. The young child is a little animal, rather than a human being. Cases are cited of cruelty and impurity in young children. Egoism reigns in them, and in order to get what it wishes, the child naturally resorts to theft and falsehood. The earliest moral education must be the restraint of natural propensities, chiefly through the influence of fear. Many arguments are adduced to prove that there is no innate moral consciousness. The argument from universal consent fails, even when we consider only the morality of civilized peoples. There is little unanimity, for example, as to the ethics of war, or of vivisection. The argument that the form of morality, but not the content, is innate, is found to be equally at fault. Heredity is a potent factor in morality, as is clearly proved by the data at command. Further, if conscience could be proved to be innate, it would be perfectly useless, since our moral dispositions and judgments vary according to physical conditions independent of the will. The natural egoism of children is not to be deplored; it is necessary to their preservation and well-being. The child must attain a certain intellectual development before the moral consciousness can develop. Moral or altruistic ideas depend upon reason and experience for their growth. Here is the truth that 'lies at the root of the theory which maintains the innateness of moral ideas: There is in man a germ which develops and makes possible moral acts; but this germ is not specifically moral, it is the faculty of knowledge, intelligence. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) A special moral education is even more necessary than physical and intellectual education, since morality is the basis of all social organization. (2) Such moral education cannot be based upon an innate conscience. The important point is that the child's reason should apprehend the truth of moral ideas.
Vida F. Moore.
This paper consists: "(1) of a definition of the problem; (2) of a thesis as to certain pretty vague general conditions which favor inventiveness,
