The Ethical World-Conception of the Norse People

The Norse world-conception.—Nature and Ufe stand in a constant relation of interchange—a fact that was apparent even to primitive peoples; for, as Swift puts it: "The most uncivilized parts of mankind have some way or other climbed up into the conception of a God. "3 And since their gods are really in effect, and so far as the moral aspect of this present life is concerned, unreached moral ideals, this "climbing" is natural to and worthy of a human soul. We dare not therefore, deny the ancients the capacity for fruitful ethical conceptions; nor should the vast disparity in conditions and institutions obscure for us the unity and continuity between them and us.