DoctrineofNaturalRights 113
on about us. One can scarcely believe his ears when one
hears men who for decades have sought persistently to di-
vorce our Western civilization and culture from its Chris-
tian basis calling again on the Christian values; when one
hears men whose teaching has been pure naturalism now ap-
pealing to beliefs the very essence of which is the very op-
posite of naturalism. One may smile, but it is a wry smile. I
cannot help feeling that in all honesty they should admit
their mistakes. If in fair weather they wrote “Prefaces to
Morals” which consisted in the abandonment of the basis
of morals, it is only fair that when, in foul weather, they
fall back upon the eternal values, they should at least recog-
nize what it is that alone makes them eternal.
B
Many of you have doubtless found this lecture a series of
platitudes. If so, I have no apology to make. The truths
men live by are always platitudinous and the philosopher
can be well content if he can but orchestrate them nobly.
They are like the humble folk songs which become the mo-
tifs of the great symphonies and which, precisely because
they have their roots deep in the rich soil of the common
life, can lift their heads to the heavens of absolute music.
Culture is indeed the measure of things taken for granted
and it is with these things that must be taken for granted
that the philosopher must be primarily concerned. When,
however, within a given culture things are no longer thus
taken for granted, a crisis in that culture inevitably ensues.
We are now witnessing a culture fighting for its life. With
this statement most of you would agree but I must warn
you that I do not mean quite what you mean. I will not
deny that when a culture has its back to the wall it may fight
for its life with guns and planes, but I am sure that it will
never save its life in this way. That is a short cut which, as