Justice & Law Quote by James G. Frazer

Frazer’s line has the cool bravado of Victorian-era science trying to annex territory that used to belong to priests and philosophers. By insisting the “moral world” is no more “exempt” from change than the “physical world,” he smuggles ethics into the same conceptual box as weather patterns and evolution: not eternal commandments, but shifting systems subject to pressure, adaptation, and drift. The phrasing matters. “Law” gives him the prestige of physics, while “ceaseless,” “perpetual,” and “flux” pile on like evidence, turning what could be a mild observation into something closer to a naturalistic manifesto.

The intent is double-edged. On the surface, it’s an argument against moral absolutism: values mutate across time and culture, and pretending otherwise is bad scholarship. Underneath, it’s a bid for authority. Frazer, famous for comparative mythology and anthropology, is addressing an audience still tempted to treat Christian moral frameworks as the default setting of humanity. He frames moral codes as historical artifacts rather than divine deposits, which is both intellectually liberating and quietly destabilizing.

Context sharpens the stakes. Frazer wrote in an era when Darwin’s aftershocks were still rearranging everything, from biblical interpretation to imperial self-justification. The line reflects that moment’s confidence - sometimes arrogance - that the scientific worldview could explain not just how bodies move, but how societies decide what counts as right. It works because it doesn’t argue loudly; it demotes moral certainty by comparing it, almost casually, to matter in motion.