Preface to Vol. I

PREFACE TO VOL. I. MISAPPREHENSIONS would probably arise in the absence of explanations respecting the order in which the several parts of The Principles of Ethics have been, and are to be, pub lished; for the· production of the 'work, and its appearance in print, have proceeded in an unusual manner. As explained in the original preface fixed·· to Part I (which is reproduced on the pages which follow), that part was written, and issued by itself in 1879, under the impres sion that ill-health might wholly prevent me from treating the subject of Ethics, if I waited till it was reached in the prescribed course of my work. More than ten years followed, partly occupied in further elaboration of The j)rinciples of Sociology, an& partly passed in a state of prostration which prevented all serious work. Along with partial recovery there came the decision to. write at once the most important of the further divisions of The Prin ciples of .E~hics-Part IV: Justice. This was issued sepa rately in June, 1891. . As stated in the preface to it, I pro posed thereafter to write, if possible, Parts II and III, completing the first volulne. This purpose has fortunately no\v been cOlnpassed; and Parts II and III are herewith issued in conjunction with Part I, as proposed in the origi nal prograrrnne.

One obje~ct I have in describing this irregnlar course of Iii PREFACE. publication, is the excuse it affords for SOine sInall repeti tions, and perhaps Ininor incongruities, 'vhich I suspect exist. The endeavour to make certain of the divisions com prehensible by themselves, has prompted inclusion in them of explanations belonging to other di visions, which publi cation of the work as a whole would have rendered super fluous. There have still to be written and published the conclud ing parts of the second volume:- Part V, " The Ethics of Social Life,- Negati ve Beneficence;" and Part VI, '~The Ethics of Social Life,- Positi ve Beneficence." The "rriting of these parts I hope to complete before ability ends: being especially anxious to do this because, in the absence of them, the divisions at present published will leave, on nearly all minds, a very erroneous hnpression respecting the general tone of evolutionary ethics. In its full scope, the moral system to be set forth unites sternness with. kindness; but thus far attention has been drawn alI!10st wholly to the sternness. Extreme misapprehensions and gross mis-state ments have hence resulted.

London, June, 1892.