Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Qupperneq 282

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The Moroccan works further include a collection of Arabian
proverbs and rules of life with commentaries, Wit and Wisdom
in Morocco, and Pagan Survivals in Mohammedan Civilisation.
Related to the latter work, though of a more general charac-
ter, is Westermarck’s Early Beliefs and Their Social Influence,
a book that also elucidates the relation between magic and reli-
gion.1) Here, Westermarck opposes certain ideas propounded by
the German philosophers Pfleiderer and Wundt, including the
notion that the origin of morals is to be sought in religion and
that all moral commands have their origin in religion. Wester-
marck shows, on ethnological grounds, that according to the
ideas of primitive peoples supernatural powers seldom protect
morals, and the powers which do so must be prevailed on to do
so by sacrifices. Through the medium of magic, belief in an im-
personal force is aroused among primitive peoples; blessings and
curses of magic effect precede belief in a god. Even at higher
cultural stages, as in the case of the Greeks and Romans, deities
appeal to magical powers. On the basis of a rich fund of material
Westermarck concludes that it is not religion that forms the
foundation for morals, but rather the reverse. Westermarck in
his conclusions comes close to Frazer and Haddon.
The work by Westermarck, however, which I regard as fore-
most in importance is The Origin and Development of the Moral
Ideas, of which the first volume was published in 1906 and the
second in 1908. Since then, the number of English editions has
increased to three, and the work has been translated into several
languages.2) The most up-to-date version is the French edition
of 1929, in which Westermarck deals with utilitarianism in a
special introduction. The investigation of The Moral Ideas is
meanwhile not confined within the limits of philosophy and
sociology; it extends to history, law, theology. The very impulse
for the work is interesting. The author was once discussing with
some friends how far a bad man ought to be treated with kind-
ness. Opinions were divided, and, in spite of much deliberation,
unanimity could not be attained. It seemed strange that the dis-
A theme dealt with by Westermarck also in Religion och magi (Sthlm
1907, 1920), and in Trú og töfrar (Reykjavik 1919).
2) 1906—08; 1912—17; 1924—26. The first thirteen chapters have
been published in Swedish under the title Moralens uppkomst och utveck-
ling (Sthlm 1916) and in Finnish under the title Moraalin synty ja kehitys
(,Sivistys ja tiede, no 93, Helsinki 1933).