Secular Morality

Secular Morality: "Secular Morality: What Is It? An Exposition and a Defence (1880)

by Charles Watts

AMONG the systems of moral philosophy that have been promulgated as guides for human conduct, Utilitarianism occupies the foremost place. It appears to Secularists as more definite and satisfactory than any other, and certainly at the present time it is more generally accepted by thinkers and that class of men whose views mold the intellectual opinions of the age. The principle of Utilitarianism has a regard solely to the uses of things; hence all actions by it are to be judged of by their use to society, and the morality of an action will consequently depend upon its utility. An important question here suggests itself: What is Utility, and how is it to be judged of and tested?"