What's Inside
Westermarck argues that morality is not a collection of objective truths, but a series of generalizations born from human emotion. He maps the shift from undirected revenge — where any target suffices to soothe a grudge — to the rigid, retaliatory frameworks of the Talmud and English law. The collection moves across vast cultural terrain, weighing the legal status of wives among the Shoshone, the Carib, and in Fiji against the evolution of Christian war ethics, from early total condemnation to the military fervor of the Crusades. By contrasting these practices with his own research into Moroccan folklore, Westermarck traces how raw, volatile reactions to injury, shame, or ritual impurity gradually solidified into the complex social institutions of marriage, justice, and religion.
Works & figures
- Steinmetz
Researcher whose theories on undirected revenge the author scrutinizes. (in “The moral concepts essentially generalisations of tendencies in certain phenomena to call forth moral emotions”)
- Christian
Group whose evolving views on homicide and warfare are examined. (in “HOMICIDE IN GENERAL (continued)”)
- Basutos
People who respect chief authority to protect criminated persons. (in “part, greater than any he hath suffered; nor can the strict rule of”)
- de Groot
Scholar who links Chinese mourning fasts to burial sacrifices. (in “book) i. 651.]”)
What it's really about
- Moral Subjectivity
- Ethics are emotional tendencies rather than objective cosmic laws.
- Retributive Justice
- The transition from private blood-feuds to state-regulated punishment.
Why it's memorable
- The description of a Fiji wife being sold for the price of a single musket.
- A German law excusing mothers who kill newborns due to distress and fear of shame.
Where to start
Start with 'THE EMOTIONAL ORIGIN OF MORAL JUDGMENTS' to understand the psychological foundation before diving into the specific cultural case studies.
For your book club
- Does the evolution of private war into state arbitration prove moral progress or just centralized control?
- Can morality be universal if it is rooted in varying cultural emotions?