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History as Past Ethics

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The ethical interpretation of historyProfessor Freeman defined history as "past politics." Mr. Buckle argued that the essence of the historical evolution consists in intellectual progress.[1] Many present-day economists hold that the dominant forces in the historical development are economic.[2] Churchmen consistently make the chief factor in history to be religion.

Whether the upholders of these several interpretations of history would have us understand them as speaking of the ultimate goal of the historic evolution, or merely of the dominant motive under which men and society act, none of these interpretations can be accepted by the student of the facts of the moral life of the race as a true reading of history. To him not only does moral progress constitute the very essence of the historic movement, but the ethical motive presents itself as the most constant and regulative force in the evolution of humanity. His chief interest in all the other factors of the historical evolution is in noting in what way and in what measure they have contributed to the growth and enrichment of the moral life of mankind.

  1. ↑ Henry T. Buckle, History of Civilization in England (1891), vol. i, chap. iv. For a trenchant criticism of Buckle's contention that there has been no progress in morals during historical times, see article entitled "The Natural History of Morals," North British Review for December, 1867.
  2. ↑ For a discussion of the economic theory, see Edwin R. A. Seligman, The Economic Interpretation of History, 2d ed.
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