Life — December 28, 1911 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

1168 A Modest Lecturer W re in receipt of an invitation to a course of ten lectures on the Fundamental Forms of Ethical Theory. Previous engagements, and not fear of the consequences, will keep. us away. In sending our regrets, how- ever, we can, at least pay a tribute to the bravery of the lecturer, Mr. Louis Kaufman Anspacher. In the first lecture he starts right off and asks: “ What is an Ethical Fact?” That, of course, is the whole point, and many a more timid lecturer would have put this question off till the very last. Upon it depends everything, as almost any philosopher will attest. Assuming, however, that it would be possible to corner an Ethical Fact so that it would submit to diagnosis, the other nine lectures would take on an extraordinarily educational value. For eight of these lectures, Mr. Anspacher, having gathered together all the Ethics he can find, whether an- cient. medieval or modern, will divide this collection into eight more or less equal piles or categories—namely, re- ligious, theological, philosophical, so- ciological, utilitarian, psychological, biological and scientific. This, in it- self, is no small job. In its broader aspect, however, the task which the lecturer has set himself is little less than herculean. This ap- pears upon perusal of the subtitles of the lectures. — When, in the first — lec- ture, we take him by the hand and enter the “Sphere of Ethical E perience,” we cannot fail to be mystified and over- awed by the complex and heterogeneous mass from which painstakingly, and one by one, he proposes to extricate “mysticism,” “transcendentalism, “dogmatism,” “dual- ism,” “ monism,” “ pan- theism,” “legislation” (this seems to have got in by mistake), “ motivi- ties,” “moral _ senses, “evolution,” “determin- ism” and “modern sci- ence,” to say nothing of TIME PASS LIGHTLY mr OER THY HEAD all the miscellaneous, lesser, philosoph- ical and unclassified coms which might be found imbedded in the nebular mass and treated as a by- product thereof. In short, as will undoubtedly be fully explained in the tenth and final lecture, “A Summary of Modern Ten- dencies,” are we improving our oppor- tunities? Are we making the best use of that immense store of natural ethical wealth which we wrested from the Indians? Ellis O. Jones. The Stout One: 11's wnat you wear THAT counts! Let the Rules Abide OOTBALL has had a prosperous season, The receipts must have been at least as large as usual. A great many of the young gentlemen were damaged by concussion’ or fracture, but, apparently, not so seriously as has sometimes happened in past years. Persons interested in football seem to have found the games satisfactory as spectacles. The railroads have hauled their thousands and collected their fares. They make no complaint. The newspapers have filled space and sold copies; they do not grumble. Why then is there so much talk about changing the rules? The busi- ness interests are well protected with the rules as they are. We have the Sherman law under consideration and must either tinker it or adjust our- selves to it, and the tariff must go on the operating table again. Surely it is a year when there is enough unset- tlement in our national programme, and any industry which can be let alone ought not to be disturbed. There were a few scoreless games, but that happens every season. There was some complaint of a tendency of teams to beat stronger one but that adds to the romance of com- petition and increases the hazards of betting. With serious upsettings in China, and Italy at war with Turkey, and Emmeline Pankhurst stumping the Eastern States, and a Presidential cam- paign coming on, and the condition of the blacks in the Southern States, far from satisfactory, and France running behind in its birth rate, and a virtual revolution pro- gressing in England, and Russia pinching Persia and making trouble for us about Jews, surely there are enough pots boiling on the fire al- ready without imperil- ling an important indus- try by a change in foot- ball rules that seem to do pretty well consider- ing the reprobate and refractory nature of the game they try to con- trol. pre comicbooks 2 |