Themes of social policy were covered in the intersection of philosophy (ethics) and economics by Francis Greenwood Peabody and his staff at Harvard around the turn of the 20th century.
A brief biography of Francis Greenwood Peabody
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Social Ethics à la Peabody
Francis Greenwood Peabody. The Approach to the Social Question. New York: Macmillan, 1912. “The substance of this volume was given as the Earle Lectures at the Pacific Theological Seminary in 1907.”
Peabody’s own short bibliography on the Ethics of Social Questions was published in 1910.
Another post provides the history of Harvard’s Department of Social Ethics up through 1920.
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Material from earlier years
Exam questions for late 19th century versions of this course have been transcribed and posted:
1888-1889; 1889-1890; 1890-1891; 1892-1893; 1893-1894; 1894-1895; 1895-1896.
1902-03. Listed as Philosophy 5. Taught by Peabody and Ireland.
1904-05. Listed as Philosophy 5 and Ethics 1. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.
1906-07. Taught by Peabody and Rogers.
1907-08. Taught by Peabody and Rogers
1908-09. Taught by Peabody, assisted by Dr. McConnell and Messrs. Ford and Foerster.
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Course Enrollment
1909-10
Social Ethics 1. Professor Peabody, assisted by Dr. McConnell, Dr. Ford, and Dr. Foerster. —The Problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory.
Total 80: 7 Graduates, 16 Seniors, 29 Juniors, 12 Sophomores, 3 Freshman, 13 Others.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1909-1910, p. 45.
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Course Description
1909-10
- Social Ethics. — The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory. Lectures, special researches, and prescribed reading. Tu., Th., Sat., at 10. Professor Peabody Dr. McConnell, Mr. Ford, and Mr. Foerster.
This course is an application of ethical theory to the social problems of the present day. It is to be distinguished from economic courses dealing with similar subjects by the emphasis laid on the moral aspects of the Social Question and on the philosophy of society involved. Its introduction discusses various theories of Ethics and the nature and relations of the Moral Ideal [required reading from Dewey and Tufts’ Ethics]. The course then considers the ethics of the family [required reading from Bosanquet’s The Family]; the ethics of poor-relief [required reading from Warner’s American Charities]; the ethics of the labor question [required reading from Adams and Sumner’s, Labor Problems]; and the ethics of the drink question [required reading from The Liquor Problem; a Summary of Investigations]. In addition to lectures and required reading two special and detailed reports are made by each student, based as far as possible on personal research and observation of scientific methods in poor-relief and industrial reform. These researches are arranged in consultation with the instructor or his assistant; and an important feature of the course is the suggestion and direction of such personal investigation, and the provision to each student of special literature or opportunities for observation.
Rooms are expressly assigned for the convenience of students of Social Ethics, on the second floor of Emerson Hall, including a large lecture room, a seminary-room, a conference-room, a library, and two rooms occupied by the Social Museum. The Library of 1800 volumes is a special collection for the use of students of Social Ethics, with conveniences for study and research. The Social Museum is a collection of graphical material, illustrating by photographs, models, diagrams, and charts, many movements of social welfare and industrial progress.
Source: Announcement of the Divinity School of Harvard University, 1909-10, pp. 24-25.
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SOCIAL ETHICS 1
Year-end Examination 1909-10
This paper should be considered as a whole. The time should not be exhausted in answering a few questions, but such limits should be given to each answer as will permit the answering of all the questions in the time assigned.
- Consider briefly : —
(a) The social conditions necessary to produce a class-conscious conflict.
(b) Economic determinism as a working faith.
- The development of the English and American law on labor combinations, from 1824. (Adams & Sumner, Labor Problems, pp. 464 ff.）
- The history and lessons of Employer’s Liability Acts in the United States. (Adams & Sumner, pp. 478 ff.)
- How do the principles of compensation for accidents in England under the Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1906 differ from those of the period before 1880? (Dr. Foerster’s lectures.)
- The likenesses and differences between the organizations of workmen and those of the employers. (Dr. Brooks’s lectures.)
- How might the assignment of laborers to tasks be accomplished in the Socialist State? Discuss three possibilities. (Dr. McConnell’s lectures.)
- The French system of arbitration, as applied, first, to local disputes and, secondly, to collective bargains.
- “Eventually it will be seen that industrial divisions should be perpendicular and not horizontal.” Explain and illustrate this citation.
- Contrast the methods of the British (Rochdale) and Belgian (Socialist) coöperators as to distribution of the profits of coöperative business. (Dr. Ford’s lectures.)
- Industrial peace, as promoted by :—
(a) The Maison Leclaire;
(b) The Pennsylvania R.R.;
(c) Lever Brothers.
- Economic forces working for and against the consumption of liquor. (The Liquor Problem, a Summary of Investigations, pp. 127 ff.）
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers, 1873-1915. Box 9, Bound vol. Examination Papers 1910-11; Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1910), p. 73.
Image Sources: Radcliffe Yearbook 1914 (for Peabody), Radcliffe Yearbook 1915 for Ford and Foerster.