Reviews
| Published date | 01 September 1924 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1924.tb02188.x |
| Date | 01 September 1924 |
The
9
Jotvrnal
of
9
Ptcblic
.
Administration
Reviews
[It
will
be
the
object
of
the Reviews
of
Books
in
the
JOURNAL
to covet
the
whole ground
of
the literature produced
in
the preceding quarter
which
may have
a
bearing
upon public administration.
By
this
means, it
is
hoped, some assistance
will
bc
given to the student and some direction to the general reader.
A
judgment
of
the value
of
the
books
will
be
attempted,
as
a
portion
of
the
ordinary
duty
of
criticism,
but the particular
value
of
the
book
in
its
relation to
the
advance
of
the science
of
public administration
will
be
regarded
as
the paramount
criterion.]
Political
Foundations
I
"
ETHICS
AND
SOME
MODERN
WORLD
PROBLEMS,"
by
William
McDougall,
F.R.S.
PROFESSOR
MCDOUCALL
is
seriously concerned about the future of
society. Its ethics, he holds, are mistaken and have led the world into
dangerous ways.
"
The tragedy of our situation," he states,
"
is
that
the greatest danger threatening our civilization arises from the working
within us of the altruistic or benevolent impulse." That
our
situation is
not worse than it is we apparently owe to the fact that
our
practice has
been inconsistent with our theory.
Ethical systems he divides into two classes, the
"
Universal Ethics,"
which are typified by Christianity, Buddhism, and
less
strictly Moham-
medanism, and
''
National Ethics," the leading examples of which are
to be found in the ethical systems of Judaism, of Japan, of China, and of
Brahminism. He desires
a
system which
will
be a synthesis of these
two main classes and
''
the first step towards the new ethical synthesis
must be the frank realization that ethics cannot be divorced from
politics.
'
*
There is much that could be said
in
favour of
this
view. Unfortunately
Prof. McDougall does not say
it,
and
a
great
deal
of
what he does say
is
either inaccurate or illogical. For instance, when he states that the only
political systems consistent with Christian ethics are Tolstoyan anarchy
or cosmopolitanism, he is simply talking nonsense. And when he
dis-
putes with those who claim that ethical principles must be deduced
from moral maxims which have their root
in
the conscience, holding such
a
view to be a repudiation of the Utilitarian doctrine that ethical precepts
must be judged and evaluated in terms of the consequences which
result
from the practice of them, he is guilty of
a
serious
logical fallacy.
To
state that
a
tree has its roots underground
is
surely not to deny that its
goodness may be judged by the fruit on its branches. The trouble
with
Professor McDougall is that he wants the tree to grow upside down, or,
to abandon the metaphor, he seeks to answer the question
''
How should
society be organized in order that the best men may exist and realize
308
(Methuen
&
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Ltd.)
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@views
:
Political Foundations
the
best
life
?
”
and to
regard
everything consistent with his answer
as
ethically sound. Such
a
course involves not
a
new ethics but the
abdication of ethics altogether.
One would not mind
this
so
much
if
the politics which constitute the
remaining interest of the book, and on which he seeks to found this
ethics, were good, but the best that
can
be said of them
is
that they are
-like the curate’s egg. There
is
of course widespread agreement with the
principle that society should provide for
“
the highest happiness of the
greatest number,’’ ,that in considering numbers regard should be had to
the future
as
well
as
the present, and that each member of society
should seek to secure such conditions within his own nation. One cannot,
however, accept Prof. McDougall’s assumption that nations have existed
throughout the ages while ethics is
a
comparatively modem growth, The
contrary is the case
;
national consciousness has its origins in common
ethical standards.
When he comes to deal with the machinery and policy of government
he
is
even less happy. His fundamental principles are all right.
A
nation
should be governed by its best citizens, these should act in
a
representa-
tive capacity, and an educated electorate is more likely than an illiterate
electorate to select
a
good government. But he
does
not, in consequence
of these principles, support the extension and broadening of compulsory
education
;
he would abolish it. He would make an educational test
compulsory for
all
electors, and he would not mind how difficult the test
were made.
If
either a man or woman mamed
a
person below the class
of
electors he or she would be disfranchised automatically. The children
of electors would be admitted to the franchise
as
soon as they reached
adult age and were educationally qualified. The children of people of
the lower class would not, however, be admitted to the class of electors
until twenty-five years after both husband and wife had become educa-
tionally qualified.
It
seems rather grotesque to advance such
a
scheme
to-day, but Professor McDougall is very serious about
it.
The chief
reason is to be found in
his
great fear
of
population. He fears
a
popula-
tion which is indefinitely increasing in numbers, and still more one which
is increasing rapidly in its lower classes and is stationary or declining in
the higher classes. He therefore desires to protect the higher classes
and to restrict the lower classes. But is he quite sure that free education,
improved sanitation, etc., lead indefinitely to
an
increase in the numbers
of lower class people, while the cost
of
maintaining these amenities leads
to
a
restriction in the birth rate of the better classes
?
He might reflect
on the fact that in England the practice of restricting the size of the
family is
moving
down the social scale in spite of rapidly increasing social
services.
In dealing with the relations of nations to each other he
raises
problems
for which he provides no solution. For instance, he
sees
the improved
309
The
Journal
9
of
Ptcblic
Administration
conditions arising from British administration in India leading to an
increased population of an unassimilable class which before long
will
press on the world’s resources, but he does not suggest the way out.
In the purely international sphere he desires peace and devotes
a
good deal of time to the discussion of the European situation. The key
to
this
situation he
finds
in
the fear of the French nation
of
a
resuscitated
Germany. But the problem
is
not
so
simple
as
all
this.
The psychology
of the French nation
is
itself
more complex than he represents, and in
a
case of this kind
it
is always wise to keep the psychology of both sides
in
view. Professor McDougall seems to have overlooked the importance
of
German psychology
in
connection with
this
problem.
He then
turns
to consider the League of Nations towards which he
is inclined to adopt the prevailing American attitude. He
is
much
concerned about the need for force and the proper control of such force
in
connection with international affairs, and believes that this
can
be
achieved, and the
fears
of
America
allayed,
if
it could be agreed that
the League
of
Nations maintain
a
large
and powerful
Air
Force, and
that
no
one
else
be allowed to
own
an
aeroplane. But
this
involves
a
technique which
is
beyond the scope of the book, and
at
any rate in
regarding this
as
a permanent solution he has forgotten the risk of someone
inventing a “Death Ray.”
The
criticism
of
his
outlook, however,
is
more fundamental than
this,
his
difficulties
arise
from the
small
regard
in which he holds public investigation
and
discussion
as
a
method of
solving international
difficulties.
This
method has frequently been
powerfully supported
on
psychological
grounds
and
some answer to
this
case seems to be called for before
it
is
decided to regard force
as
the key
to the future of the League
of
Nations.
’In
short, Professor McDougall
looks
very pessimistically
on
the
world
and has
shown
that acute
pessimism like
airy
optimism, provides
a
very distorting medium through
which to view reality.
A.
C.
STEWART.
I1
“THE
IRRESISTIBLE
MOVEMENT
OF
DEMOCRACY,”
by
Job
Simpson
Penman.
THIS
book is a vast storehouse of research.
It
gives
us
the minute details
of the development of democracy
in
England, France, and America from
the time of the American succession.
It
runs
the risk of not seeing the
wood for trees, but while we are aware of the risk
as
we read the
700
pages
a
study
of
the
closing
chapter
shows
that the
sense
of
perspective was
never lost. The best
of
the book
is
the fact that
it
shows the inner
relationship between the different developments.
It
is
kinder to England
-according to the newer studies-than the older
American
books which
(London,
Macmillan
&
Co.)
21s.
net.
310
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