ABSTRACT

Recapitulation theory argues that just as the physical growth of an individual passes through all the stages of physical human evolution from a protoplasmic speck onwards, so intellectual growth too recapitulates the mental experiences of the race. In addition to clarifying understanding of immature thought this recapitulatory theory can help to understand immature morality, for the pattern of mankind's moral development appears also to be directly recapitulated in the moral evolution of the child. One can say that just as intellectual phylogeny is recapitulated in intellectual ontogeny, so the moral development of the race appears to be repeated in the moral development of each individual. Like prudentiality and discipline, authority is a valuable precursor of mature morality and even deserves a place in the most enlightened systems. The one stage in racial moral development was clearly enunciated by a number of outstanding moral teachers.