SOURCE: A review of The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, in The Philosophical Review, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January, 1907, pp. 70-8.

In the following review of The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, McGilvary favorably examines Westermarck's theory that moral emotions are negative results of societal disapproval.

The author of The History of Human Marriage has in The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas] taken up the larger problem of the history of human morality. He brings to his task, of course, the same wonderful erudition and the same rare critical acumen that characterized his former book. The result is what we should expect of Westermarck.

The introductory words remind one of Locke's account of the way in which he was led to write his Essay. "The main object of this book will perhaps be best explained by a few words concerning its origin.

"Its...