The Monthly Record of South Place Ethical Society CONWAY HALL, RED LION SQUARE, W.C.1. Telephone: CHANCERY 8032, " THE OBJECTS OF Tug SOCIETY are the study and dissemination of ethical principles and the cultivation of a rational religious sentiment." Sunday Morning Meetings at ELEVEN o'CLOCK. • November 27—W. B. CURRY, MA. B.Sc.—Bertrand Russell on " Power " Pianoforte Solos : Two Intermezzi .. .. Brahma Op. 118. No. 2 in A. Op. 110. No. 2 in E. Mr. WILLIAM BUSCH, Hymns: No. 11 and No. 12. December 4—Professor T. H. PEAR, M.A., B.Sc.—The Psychology of Conversa- tion. Bass Solo : Bright is the ring of words .. liouglum Williams MT. G. C. DOWMAN Dvorak So prano Solos : ) A. Songs my mother taught me .. B. How fair this spot .. Rachinanino f f MiSS HESE SIMPSON. Hymns : Nos. 17 and 42. December 11—MORITZ J. BONN, D.Sc.—The Problems of Appeasement Sonata in G minor for Violoncello and Pianoforte .. Handel Miss EILEEN MCCARTth and Mr. WILLIAM BUSCH. ' Hymns : Nos. 25 and 100. December 18—J. P. GILMOUR—Loyalties: True and False Bass Solo : Hark! Hark I the Lark. .. .. Schubert Mr. G. C. DOWMAN Soprano Solo: A Carol . Eric Thiman MISS HEBE SIMPSON. Hymns: Nos. 115 and 32. December 25—NO MEETING January 1—JOHN LANGDON-DAVIES—Prospects for Reason in 1939 Pianoforte Solo : First Two Movements of Sonata .. Greer Franck I Prelude, II Chorale. Mr. WILLIAM BUSCH. Hymns : Nos. 10 (tune 207), and 231. Pianist : MT. WILLIAM BUSCH. A Collection is made at each Meeting, to enable those .present to contrlbute to the expenses of the Society. VISITORS WELCOME. OFFICIAL CAR PARK—Opposite Main Entrance. 2 MEMBERSHIP Any person In sympathy with the Objects of the Society is cordially invited to become a Mrimiza. The minimum annual subscription is las., but it is hoped that Members will subscribe as generously as possible and so assist the Society to meet its heavy annual expenditure. Any person may join as an Associate, but will not be eligible to vote or hold office. Further particulars may be obtained before and after the Sunday Meetings, or on application to the Hon. Registrar, Mrs. E. Washbrook, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W. C. 1, to whom all subscriptions should be paid. HONORARY OFFICERS Trews Hill, Lehighton, Essex. Editor of MONTHLY RECORD F. G. GOULD, WOOdrising, Minutes Secretary... ... F. A. Sowes, 38 Ellerton Road, EWA& ReAsgistnytes.of Members and 33 Claremont Close, NJ. socia.. 1Mrs E WASEBROOIC, Treasurer ... ... C. E. LISTER, Conway Hall, W.C.1. Secretary : S. G. Green, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, W.C.1. MARRIAGES. Conway Hall is registered for marriages. FUNERAL SERVICES can be arranged by the Society. Applications should be addressed to the Secretary. • • • The Society does not hold itself responsible for views expressed or reported In the " RECORD." ETHICS versus POLITICS Both ethical and rationalist societies ought to hold themselves deeply concerned with the recent revelations of the unreasonable and unethical conduct of man in all parts of the world. When I was young, the world in general seemed to be moving towards wider acceptance of reason and morals in its internal government and in its international relations. Individuals and groups of citizens within the several nations thought of politics as a comparatively unimportant affair, and though differing over labour questions found settlements that gave a " fair deal" to al/ parties. Wars happened st fairly long intervals, but the idea of the necessity of world-wars, of hostile -ideologies never entered anybody's mind. Ethics and• rationalism could, -therefore, keep out of controversial politics without much trouble. The situation is very different now. The apparently inevitable struggle between totalitarianism and democracy cannot be understood, much less conducted, without a recognition of the repudiation of all that we understand as ethics and reason by the totalitarian states and the dangerous limitations of these faculties by so-called demo- cracies. The progress of civilisation until recently was understood in terms of a humanism which meant the application of the ordered activities of mankind in the higher qualities of life in all parts of the world and in all grades of the populations. This humanism was, of course, fully conscious only among the better members of each nation but it was strong enough to inspire the co-operation on an inter- national scale of an increasing variety of progressive activities. It is not true that all this co-operation for humanity has disappeared, far from it, but it is everywhere crippled and retarded by the rise of new forms of nationalism which are based on unreason and immorals. The latest and perhaps worst sort of this nationalism is the exclusiveness which insists that other nations, or their individuais, have no right to intrude their criticism or interference upon the totalitarian states even if they offend the ordinary codes of morals and by their barbarity imperil the interests and corrupt -the morals of democratic nations. Worse still, when the statesmen of demo- cracies accept this exclusiveness and- interfere with freeercrintiaclilsym so p nthsfabtle thf eoyr may shake hands and co-operate with men who are P 1- so es murder, robbery, torture and every barbarity in their own countries and those- which they can bring under their control. The statement " This is not our con- cern" uttered freely to-day by men of mark in this country is the negative side of the profession " We win only fight for our own vital interests." These " vital interests" apparently consist of the quarter of the globe acquired in the. oast by the same methods Germany, Italy and Japan are now employing with such other countries as are deemed essential to their interests. Now it needs to De fairly understood that this attitude in a democracy, implies not merely the acceptance of force as the basis of right (the totalitarian open profession) but a denial of the essence of democracy. For " govermhent of the people by the people 3 for the people" is inconsistent with imperialism in any of its shapes or forms. The test for our Government will come, if and when Germany demands the return of her colonies. For this seizure was perhaps the most indefensible act of the Versailes Treaty, the mandatory form being inserted to cover the policy repudiated in Mr. Wilson's " ten points" and the allotment of the colonies being " regularised " by the League after the scramble for their possession by the Allies had taken place. Shall we have the effrontery to make the consent of the peoples in these colonies a condition for their return, when no such consent was exacted for their taking over in 1919? I have entered into these controversial topics in order to expose the truth that ethicists and rationalists cannot any longer " keep out " of current political con- troversies, however .such, controversies may endanger the sone arity of our societies. For such exclusiveness or autarchy as is demanded by certain nations, either totali- tarian or pseudo-democratic, is a denial of ethical principles M the government of mankind. Breaking mankind into a number of self-concerned nations whose vital interests lie entirely within their own boundaries they might conceivably retain a sort of large family civilisation. But all of them claim " rights" to external acquisition of territory or trade which are nothing other than the successful employ- ment of force in their own national interests. Whether this material end be coveted as power, prestige or sheer possession it matters not from the standpoint of ethics, for " right " is robbed Of all ethical significance whatever the end of the national " force" may be. It is idle to pretend that such modes of political and economic advancement can be left to the good or bad will of each nation. For it is manifest that the necessary self-protection of the nations, threatened by this " force " policy, can only be met by force of a corresponding nature, though with a purely defensite aim. But this defensive force is itself a menace to democracy and, unless it can be kept at a minimum involves a loss of self-control and voluntary co-operation in the arts of government. This is the practical issue immediately confronting us and is essentially a moral issue and an aPPeal to reason and the expanding co-operation of mankind. J. A. HOBSON. DR. MARIE JAHODA ON - NEW METHODS OF SOCIAL INVESTIGATION " (October 18, 1938) Readings from " The Polish Peasant in Europe and America " by F. Znaniecki. Dr. Jahoda said that although there was an increasing interest in social inves- tigation and the social sciences, owing to the complexity and rapid changing of modern society, a number of Universities were not quite convinced that social investigation was related to science, or that there was any method of investigating and describing in scientific terms our present system. In consequence of this mistrust, many social investigators looked to natural science for help. They saw the enormous progress made by the use of exact methods in physics and mathematics. They used similar methcds for social sciences, even expressing their results in the form of a mathematical equation. It was, however, far more important to describe the results of social investigation in terms of quality rather than quantity. Social investigators must learn from the physicists that the way to form a theory was not to quarrel with former theories, but to expound a new one to explain facts not previously known, as Einstein had developed his theory by enlarging upon those established by Newton. It was very important to develop new methods of reporting and registering new facts.