character in a crowd, and inviting them to share alike, he fell
into the inevitable failure. Modern Socialists might do well to
remember his history.

Now it is, as I understand, primarily the aim of an Ethical Society to
promote the rational discussion of these underlying ethical principles.
We wish to contribute to the clearest understanding we can of the right
ends to which human energy should be devoted, and of the conditions
under which such devotion is most likely to be rewarded with success.
We desire to see the great controversy carried on in the nearest
possible approach to a scientific spirit. That phrase implies, as I
have said, that we must abandon much of the old guidance. The lights by
which our ancestors professed to direct their course are not for us
supernatural signs, shining in a transcendental region, but at most the
beacons which they had themselves erected, and valuable as indications,
though certainly not as infallible guides, to the right path. We must
question everything, and be prepared to modify or abandon whatever is
untenable. We must be scientific in spirit, in so far as we must trust
nothing but a thorough and systematic investigation of facts, however
the facts may be interpreted. Undoubtedly, the course marked out is
long and arduous. It is perfectly true, moreover, as our antagonists
will hasten to observe, that professedly scientific reasoners are
hardly better agreed than their opponents. If they join upon some
negative conclusions, and upon some general principles of method, they
certainly do not reach the same results. They have at present no
definite creed to lay down. I need only refer, for example, to one very
obvious illustration. The men who were most conspicuous for their
attempt to solve social problems by scientific methods, and most
confident that they had succeeded, were, probably, those who founded
the so-called "classical" political economy, and represented what is
now called the individualist point of view. Government, they were apt
to think, should do nothing but stand aside, see fair-play, and keep
our knives from each other's throats and our hands out of each other's
pockets. Much as their doctrines were denounced, this view is still
represented by the most popular philosopher of the day. And undoubtedly
we shall do well to take to heart the obvious moral. If we still
believe in the old-fashioned doctrines, we must infer that to work out
a scientific doctrine is by