|
PREFACE
In presenting this work
to the public, no apology, I think, is necessary, for my conclusions do
not interfere with the writings of other authorities on social
questions. The material has been gathered from the ablest scientific
authorities, but its method of application to the solution of the social
problem is quite original.
The constantly diverging trains of modem thought necessitate some new
and enlarged method of restoring unity and harmony; and I am baffled in
all my efforts to find how this end can be attained through the theories
of any one or more of the existing schools. In an inquiry which claims
to be scientific, every sphere of human activity must be equitably
adjusted, and the comprehensive nature of the undertaking may thus be
easily realised. Had I framed together the mass of material which I have
collected, the dimensions of this volume would have been multiplied at
least threefold, which would have placed it beyond the reach of many
whom it is intended specially to benefit. Accordingly I have written the
work in language as popular as can be made consistent with an inquiry of
this kind, and have sacrificed much for the sake of brevity. This
course, however, does not detract from the value of the work as a
message to scientists; for, although the matter may be well known to
them, the inquiry points out the immense and largely untrodden field of
scientific investigation connected with social problems.
The necessity for a scientific standard of morality, wherein all our
actions may be reduced to numbers which have a definite relation to our
moral destiny, has long been felt, and to this feature of my inquiry I
desire to draw special attention.
W. A. M.
October 1889.
Humanitism
The Scientific solution of the social problem by W. A. MacDonald (1890)
(pdf) |
