Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/25

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AN INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS.

or argue logically, or live healthily, or act rightly; and he is convinced that in all these departments of life it is possible to use education with valuable results. Education maintains that in general the more a man knows about grammar, the more likely he is to correct his faults and learn to speak grammatically. Education holds that a knowledge of hygiene will sometimes save a man from disease, and will improve the general health of the community. So the moral educator believes that the more a man has reflected about conduct and character, the less likely he is to do wrong, and the more likely he is to do right.

But the success of all education depends on the willingness to improve of the person who is being educated. The educator can't make a child speak grammatically, unless the child wants to speak grammatically. He can't make the child argue logically, unless the child wants to argue logically. He can't make the child live healthily, unless the child wants to preserve his health. And he can't make the child act rightly, unless the child wants to act rightly. Nobody will benefit from education of any kind, unless he is willing to take advantage of it. Ethics will never make a man good. Grammar will never make him grammatical. Hygiene will never make him healthy. But if ho wants to be healthy and good, he may learn much that will help him from hygiene and ethics.

It is the task of the moral educator to apply the principles of ethics, just as the physical instructor applies the principles of hygiene and physiology. As the physical instructor ought to know something