XII. Altruism Versus Egoism

OHAPTER XII. ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM. § 75. If we define altruism as being all action which, ill the normal course of things, benefits others instead of benefiting .se1£, then, from the dawn of life, altruism has been no less essential than egoism. Though primarily it is dependent on egoism, yet secondarily egoism is dependent on it. Under altruism in this comprehensive sense, I take in the acts by which offspring are preserved and the species maintained. }Ioreover, among these acts must be included not such only as are accompanied by consciousness, but. also such as conduce to the we1£are of offspring without mental representation of the welfare-acts of automatic altruism as we may call them. Nor· must there be left. out those lowest altrnistic acts which subserve race-mainten ance without implying even automatic nervous processes -acts not in the remotest sense psychical, but in Q literal sense physical. Whatever action, unconscious or conscious, involves expenditure of individual life to the end of increasing life in other individuals, is unquestionably altruistic in a sense, if not in the usual sense; and it is here needful to understand it in this sense that we may see how conscious altruism grows out of unconscious altruism.

The simplest beings-habitually multiply by spontaneous 202 'l'HE DATA OF ETHICS. fission. Physical altruism of the lowest kind, differentiating from physical egoism, may in this case be considered as not yet independent of it. For since the two halves which before fission constituted the individual, do not on dividing disappear, we must say that though the individuality of the parent infusorium or other protozoon is lost in ceasing to be single, yet the old individual continues to exist in each of the new individuals. When, however, as happens generally with these smallest animals, an interval of qules cence ends in the breaking up of the whole body into minute parts, each of which is the gerlTI of a young one, we see the parent entirely sacrificed in forming progeny. Here might be described how among creatures of higher grades, by fission or gemmation, parents bequeath parts of their bodies, more or less organized, to form offspring at the cost of their own individualities. Numerous examples might also be given of the ways in 'which the development of ova is carried to the extent of Inaking the parental bodJ little more than a receptacle for them: the implication being that the accumulations of nutrinlent which parental activities have laid up, are disposed of for the benefit of posterity.

And then might be dwelt on the lTIultibudinous cases where, as generally throughout the insect-world, maturity having been reached and a new generation provided for, life ends: death follows the sacrifices made for progeny. But leaving these lower types in which the altruism is physical only, or in which it is physical and automatically psychical only, let us ascend to those in which it is also, to a considerable degree, conscious. Though in birds and ll1ammals such parental activities as al"e guided by instinct, are accompanied by either no representations or but vaguo representations of the benofits which the young receive j yet there are also in them actions which we may class as altruistic in the higher sense. The agitation whieh creatures of these classes show when their young are in dnnger, joined often with efforts on their behalf, as well as the grief dis..

ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM. 203 played after loss of their young, make it manifest that in them parental altruism has a concomitant' of emotion. Those who understand by altruiSlTI only the 90nscious sacrifice of self to others among human beings, will think it strange, or even absurd, to extend its meaning so widely. But the justification for doing this is greater than has thus far appeared. I do not mean merely that in tho course of evolution, there has been a progress through infinitesimal gradations from purely phys~cal and Inconscious sacrifices of the individual for the welfare of the species, up to sacrifice~ consciously made. I mean that from first to last the sacri. fices are, when reduced to their lowest ternls, of the same essential nature: to the last, as at first, there is involved a loss of bodily substance. When a part of the parental body is detached in the shape of gemmule, or egg, or fcetus, the material sacrifice is conspicuous; and when the. mother yields milk by absorbing which the young one graws, it' cannot be questioned that there is also a material sacrifice.

But though a material sacrifice is not manifest when the young are benefited by activities on their behalf; yet, as no effort can be made without an equivalent waste of tissue, -and as the bodll y loss is proportionate to the expenditure that takes plaCE without reimbursement in food consumed, it follows that efforts made in fostering offspring do ~eally represent a part of the parental substance; which is now given indirectly instead of directly. Self-sacrifice, then, is no less primordial than self-preser l'ation. Being in its simple physical form absolutely neces sary for the continuance of life from the beginning; and being extended under its automatic form, as indispensablo to maintenance of race in types considerably advanced; and being developed to' its semi-conscious and conscious forms, clong with the continued and. complicated attendance by which the offspring of superior creatures are brought to olaturity; altruism has been' evolving simultaneously 'with egoism. As was pointed out in an eaJ~ly chapter; the 204 THE DATA OF ETHICS.

same superiorities which have enabled the individual t~J preserve itself better, have enabled it better to preserve the individuals derived froin it; and each higher species, using its iluproved faculties prinlarily for egoistic benefit, has spread in proportion as it has used them secondarily for n]truisti~ benefit. Tho imperativeness of altruism as thus understood, is, indeed"no less than the ilnperativeness or egoisni ,vas shown to be in the last chapter. For while, on the one hanel, a falling short of norinal egoistic acts entails enfeeblement or loss of life, and therefore loss of ability to pertorn1 altru istic acts; on the other hand, such defect ot altruistic acts as causes death of offspring or inadequate development of them, involves disappearance from future generations of the nature that is not altruistic enough-so decreasing the average egolsln. In short, every species is continually 'purifying itself trOITI the unduly egoistic individuals, while there are being lost to it the unduly altrulstic individuals.

§ 76. As there has been an advance by degrees £eom nnconscious parental altruism to conscious parental altruism of the highest kind, so has there been an advance by degrees from the altruism or the falnlly to social altrllisn1. A fact to be first noted is that only where altruistic rela tions in the domestic group have reached highly-developed forms, do there arise conditions making possible full deve lopment of altruistic relations in the political group. Tribes in which promiscuity prevails or in ,,,hlch tho marital relations are transitory, and tribes in which poly andry entails in another way indefinite relationships, aro incapable of 111uch organization. Nor do peoples who are habitually polygamous, show themselv·es able to take on those high forms of social cooperation which demand due subordination of self to others. Only where monogamic marriage has become general and eventually universal only where there have consequently been establisl10d tbe ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM. 205 closest tIes of blood-only .where family altruism bas been IllOst fostered, has social altruism become conspicuous. It needs but to recall the compound forms of the Aryan family fiS described by Sir Henry Maine and other~, to see that family feeling, first extending itself to the gens and tho tribe, and afterwards to th~ society fornled of rehtted tdbes, prepared the way for fellow feeling an10ng citizens not . of the sanle ~tock.

Recognizing this natural transition, we are here chiefly concerned to observe that throughout the latter stages of the progress, as throughout the former, increase of egoistic satisfactions has depended on growth of regard for the satisfactions of others. On contemplating a line of succes sive' parents and offspring, ,ve see. that each, enabled while young to live by the sacrifices predecessors make for it, itself makes, ,vhen adult, equivalent sacrifices lor successors; and that in default of this general balancing of benefits received by benefits given, the line dies out. Similarly, it is manifest that in a society each generation of nlembers, indebted fbI' such benefits as· social organization yields them to pre ceding generations, ,vho have by their sacrifices elaborated this organization, are called on to make for succeeding generations such kindred sacrifices as shall at least main tain this organizati9n) if they do not i~l1prove it : the alter native being decay and eventual dissolution of· the. society, inlplying gradual decrease in the egoistic satisfactions of its menlbers.

And now we are prepared to consider the several ways in 'which, under social conditions, personal welfare depends on clue regard for the welfare of others. Already the cOllclu.., siGns to be dra,vn have been foreshadowed. As in the chapter on the biological view were impli~d the inferences definitely set forth in the last chapter; so in the chapter on the sociological view were hnplied the inferences to be definitely set forth here. Sundry of these are trite enough; 206 THE DATA OF ETHICS. but they 111ust neverthelesR be specified, since the statement would be incomplete without them. § 77. First to be dealt with comes that negative altruism implied by such curbing of the egoistic impulses as prevents direct aggression. A s before shown; if men instead of living separately are to unite for defence or for other purposes, they must seve rany reap more good than evil from the union. On the average, each must lose less from the antagonisms of those with whom he is associated, than he gains by the association.

At the outset, therefore, that increase of egoistic satisfactions which the social state brings, can be purchased only by altruism sufficient to cause some recognition of others' claims: if not a VOluntary recognition, still, a compulsory recognition. While the recognition is but of that lowest kind due to dread of retaliation, or of prescribed punishment, the egoistic gain from association is small j and it becomes considerable only as the recognition becomes voluntary that is, more altruistic. Where, as anlong some of the wild Australians, there exists no limit to the right of the strongest, and the men fight to get possession of W0111en while the wives of one man fight alnong thenlRel\'8S about him, the pursuit of egoistic satisfactions is greatly inlpeded. Besides the bodily pain occasionally given to each by conflict, and the more or less of subsequent inability to achieve personal ends, there is the waste of energy entailed in nlaintaining re~diness for self.de£ence, and there is thA accompanying occupation of consciousness by emotions that are on the average of cases disagreeable. l\10reover, the primary end of safety in presence of external foes is ill.

attained in proportion as there are internal animosities; such furtherance of satisfactions as industrial cooperation brings cannot be had j and there is little motive to labQur AL'l'l{UISM VERSUS EGOISM. 207 for extra benefits "when the products of labour are insecure.. And from this early stage to' comparatively lat~ stages, we may trace in the wearing of arms, in the carr)Ting on of family feuds, and in the taking of daily pr~cautions for safety, the ways in which the egoistic satisfactions of each are dinlinished by deficiency of that altruism which checks overt injury of others. The private interests of the individual are on the average better subserved, not only in proportion as he himself refrains from direct aggression, .but also, on the average, in proportion as he succeeds in diminishing the aggressions of his fellows on one another. The prevalence of antagonisnls among those around, impedes the activities carried on by each in pursuit of satisfactions; and by causing disorder makes the· heneficial results of activities more doubtful.

Hence, each profits egoistically from the growth of an altruism which leads each to aid in preventiu8' or diminishing others' violence. The like holds when we pass to that altruism which restrains the undue egoism displayed in breaches of contract. General acceptance of the maxim that honesty is the best policy, implies general experience that grati fication of the self-regarding feelings is eventually fur thered .by such checking of them as maintains equitable dealings. And here, as before, each is personally interested in securing good treatment of his fellows by one another. For in countless ways evils are entailed on each by the prevalence of fraudulent transactions. As everyone knows, the larger the number of a shopkeeper's bills left unpaid by some customers, the higher must be the prices which other customers pay. The more manufacturers lose by defective raw materials or by carelessness of workmen, the more must they charge for their fabrics to buyers. The less trustworthy people are, the higher rises the rate of interest, the larger becomes the amount of capital hoarded, the greater are the impediments to industry. The further 15 208 THE DATA OF ETHICS.

traders and people in general go beyond their nleans, and hypothecate the property of others in speculation, the more serious are those cOlTImercial panics which bring disasters on multitudes and injuriously affect all. This introduces us to yet a third way in which such per.. aonal welfare as results from the proportioning of benefitB gained to labours given, depends on the making of certain sacrifices for social welfare. The man who, expending his energies wholly on private affairs refuses to· take trouble about public affairs, pI nming himself on his wisdolll in minding his own business, is blind to the fact that his own business is made possible 011ly by maintenance or a healthy social state, and that he loses all round by defective governmental arrangements. Where there are many like minded with himsel£-where, as a consequence, offices come to be filled by political adventurers and opinion is swayed by demagogues-where bribery vitiates the ac1nlinistratioll of the law and makes fraudulent State-transactions habitual; heavy penalties fan on the cornn1unity at large, and, among others, on those who have thus done everything for seH and nothing ror society. Their investlnents are insecure; recovery of their debts is difficult; and even their lives are less safe than they would otherwise have been.

S6 that on such altruistic actions as are implied, firstly in being just, secondly in seeing justice done between others, and thirdly in upholding and improving the agencies by which justice is administered, depend, in large llleasnre, the egoistic satisfactions of each. § 78. But the identification of personal advantage with the advantage of fellow-citizens is much wider than this. In various other ways the well-being of each rises and falls with the well-being of all. A weak man left to provid'e for his own wants, suffers by getting smaller amounts of food and other necessaries than he might get were he stronger. In a community formed 01 ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM. 20~ weak_men, who divide their labours and exchange the. pro· ducts, all suffer evils from the -weakness of. their fellows. The quantity of each kind of product is made deficient· by the deficiency of labouring power; and. the share each gAts for such .share of his own product· as he can afford to give, is relatively small. Just as· the maintenance of paupers" hospital patients, inmates of· asylums, and others who consume but do not produce, leaves_to be divided among prod~cers a smaller stock of commodities than would exist were· there no incapables; so must there be left a slnaller stock of commodities to he divided, the greater the number of inefficient producers, or the greater the average deficiency of producing power. Hence, .whatever decreases the strength of men in general restricts the gratifications of each by making the means to them dearer.

More directly} and more. obviously, does the bodily well being of his fellows 'concern hill; for their bodily ill-being, when it takes certain. shapes, is apt to bring simila.r bodily ill-being on him. If he is not himself attacked 'by cholera, or small-pox, or tJPhus, when it invades his neighbourhood, he often suffers apenaltythroagh his belongings. Under conditions spreading it, his wife catches diphtheria, or his servant is laid up with scarlet fever, or his children take now this and now that infectious disorder. .Addtogether the immediate and remote evils brought on hirn year after year by epidemics, and it becomes manifest that his egoistic satisfactions are greatly furthered by such ~ltruistic activities as render disease less prevalent. With the mental,as well as with the boajly,statesoffellow~ citizens, his enjoyments are in multitudinous ways bound up. Stupidity like weakness raises the cost. of commodities Where farlning is unimproved, the priuesof food are higher than they would else be; where antiquated routine maintains \tself in traCIe,the needless expense of distribution weighs on all j where there is no inventiveness, everyone loses the bene ..

fits which improved appliances diffuse. Other than economio 210 THE DATA OF ETHICS. evils come .from the average unintelligence-periodicallj through the manias and panics that arise because traders rush in herds all to buy or all to sell j and habitually through the mal-administration of justice, which people and rulers alike diRregard while pursuing this or that legislative ·will-o'. the-wisp. Closer and clearer is the dependence of his personal satisfactions on others' mental states, which each experiences in his household. Unpunct.uality and want of system are perpetual sources of annoyance. The unskil£ulness of the cook causes frequent vexation and occasional indigestion. Lack of forethought in the housemaid leads to a fall over a bucket in a dark passage. And inattention to a luessage or forgetfulness in delivering it, entails failure in an important engagement. Each~ therefore, benefits egoistically by such altruism as aids in raising the average intelligence.

I . do not mean such altruism as taxes ratepayers that children's minds may be filled with dates, and names, and gossip about kings, and narratives of battles, and other useless information, no amonnt of which will make them capable workers or good citizens j but I mean such altruism 9,8 helps to spread a knowledge of the nature of things and to cultivate the power of applying that knowledge. Yet again, each has a private interest in public morals and profits by improving them. Not in large ways only, by aggressions and breaches of contract, by adulterations and short measures, does each suffer from the general uncon~cientlOusness; but in more numerous small ways. Now it is through the untruthfulness of one who gives. a good character to a bad servant j now it is by the reckless ness of a laundress who, using bleaching agents to save trouble in washing, destroys his linen; now it is. by' the acted falsehood of railway passengers who, by dispersed coats, make him believe that all the seats in a compart ment are taken when they are· not. Yesterday the illness of his child due to foul gases, led to the discovery of a drain that had become choked because it was ill-made · ALTl{UISl\{ VERSUS EGOISM. 211 by a dishonest builder under supervision of a careless or bribed surveyor. To-day vvorkluenemployed to rectify it bring on him cost and inconvenience by dawdling; and their low standard of work, determined by the unionist principle that the better workers must not d~scredit the worse by exceeding them in efficiency, he may trace to tihe immoral belief that the unworthy should fare as well a8 the worthy. To-morrow it turns out that business for the plunlber has been provided by damage which the bricklayers have done.

Thus the improvement of others, physically, intellectually, and morally, personally concerns each; since their imper-_ fections tell in raising the cost of all the commodities he buys, in increasing the taxes and rates he pays, and in the losses of time, trouble, and money, daily brought on him by others' carelessness, stupidity, or unconscientiousness. § 79. Very obvious are certain more immediate connexions between personal welfare and ministration to the welfare of those around. The evils snfferec1by those whose behaviour is unsympathetic, 'and the benefits to self which unselfish conduct brings, show these. That anyone should have formulated his experience by saying that the conditions to success are a hard heart and a sound digestion, is marvellous considering the many proofs that success, even of a material kind, greatly depending as it does on the good offices of others, is furthered by whatever creates goodwill in others. The contrast between the pros perity of those who to but moderate abilities join natures which beget friendships by their kindliness, and the adver sity of those who) though possessed of superior faculties and greater acquirements, arouse dislikes by their hardness or indifference, should force upon all the truth that egoistic enjoyments are aided by altruistic actions.

1'his increase of personal benefit achieved by benefiting others, is but partially achieved where a selfiRh motive 212 THE DATA OF ETHICS. prompts the seemingly-unselfish act: it is fully aehieved. only where the act is really unselfish. Though services rendered with the view of sonle time profiting by recipro cated services, answer to a certain extent; yet, ordinarily, they answe~ only to the extent of bringing equivalents of reciprocated services. Those which bring more than equi valents are those not prompted by any thoughts of equivalents. For obviously it is the spontaneous outflow of good nature, not in the larger acts of life only but in all its details, which generates in those around the attachments prompting unstinted benevolence. Besides furthering prosperity, other-regarding actions conduce to self-regarding gratifications by generating a genial envirollluent. "Vith the sYlnpathetic being everyone feels more sympathy than with others. All conduct them selves with 1110re than usual amiability to a person who hourly discloses a lovable nature. Such a one is p~actically surrounded by a world of better people than one who is less attractive. If we contrast the state of a man possessing· all the material means to happiness, but isolated by his· absolute egoism, with the state of an altruistio man relatively poor in means but rich in friends, we may see that variou~ gratifications not to be purchased by money, come in abundance to the last and are inaccessible to the first.

While, then, there is one kind of other-regarding action, furthering the prosperity of fellow-citizens at large, which adluits of being deliberately pursued from motives that are remotely seH-regarding-the conviction being that personal well-being depends in large measure on the well-being of society-there is an additional kind of other-regarding action having in it no element of conscious self-regard, which nevertheless conduces greatly to egoistic satisfactions. §80. Yet other modes exist in which egoism unqualified by altruislnhabitually fails. It diminishes the totalit,y of egoistic ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM. 2]3 pleasure by diminishing in .several directions the capacity for pleasure. Self-gratifications, considered separately or in the aggre gate, lose their intensities by thab too great persistence in them which results if they are mage the exclusive oQjects of pllfnuib. The law that function entails waste, and that faclllti3s yielding pleasure by their action cannot act inces sa,utly without exhaustion and accompanying-satiety, has the implication that intervals during which altruistic acti vities absorb the energies, are intervals during which the capacity for egoistic pleasure is recovering its full degree.

The sensitiveness to purely personal enjoyments is main tained at a higher pitch by those who minister to the enjoy ments of others, than it is by those who devote themselves wholly to personal enjoyments. This which is manifest even while the tide of li£eis high, becolnes still more manifest as life ebbs. It is in maturity and old age that we especially see how, as egoistic plea sures grow faint, altruistic actions conle in to revive them in new forms. The contrast between the child's delight. in the novelties daily revealed, and the indifference which comes as the world around grows fanliliar, until in adult life there remain comparatively few things that are greatly enjoyed, draws from all the reflection that as years go by pleasures pall. And to those who think, it becomes clear that only through syrrlpathy can pleasures be indirectly gained from things that have ceased to yield pleasures directly. In the gratifications derived by pa,rents from the gratifications of their offspring, this is conspicuously shown.

Trite as is the remark that men live afresh in their children, it is needful here to set it down as relninding us of the way in which, as the egoistic satisfactions in life fade, altruisnl lenewsthem whilejt transfig1.lresthem. We are thus· introduced to a more general consideration -the egoistic aspect ofaltruist.ic pleasure. Not" indeed.

214 THE DATA OF ETHICS. that this is the place for discussing the question whether the egoistic element can be excluded from altruism; nor is it the place for distingushing between the altruislL which is pursued with a foresight of the pleaa.urable ~eeling to be achieved t.hrough it, and the altruislu which) though it achieves this pleasurable feeling, does not make pursuit of it a motive. Here we are concerned with the fact that, whether knowingly or unknowingly gained, the state of mind accompanying altruistic action, being a pleasurable state, is to be counted in the sum of pleasures which the individual can receive; and in this sense cannot be other than egoistic. That we must so regard it is proved on observing that this pleasure, like pleaEures in general, conduces to the physical prosperity of the ego. As every other agreeable emotion raises tho tide of life, so does the agreeable emotion which accornpanies a benevolent deed. As it cannot be denied that the pain caused by the sight of suffering, depresses the vital functions-sometinles even to the extent of arresting the heart's action, as in one who faints OIl seeing a surgical operation;· so neither can it be denied that the joy felt in witnessing others' joy exalts the vital functions. Hence, however much we ma,Y hesitate t~ class altruistic pleasure as a higher kind of egoistic pleasure, ~~ are obliged to recognize the fact that its imulediate effects in augmenting life and so furthering personal well-being, are like those of pleasures that are directly egoistic. And the corollary drawn must be that pure egoism is, even in its immediate results, less successfully egoistic than is the egoism duly qualified by altruism, which, besides achieving additional pleasures, achieves also, through raised vitalitYJ a greater capacity for pleasures in general.

That the range of oosthetic gratifications is wider for the altruistic nature than for the egoistic nature, is also a truth not to be overlooked. The joys and sorrows of human beings form a chief element in the subject-rnatter of art 1 ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOl6!M. 215 and QvidentIy the pleasures which art gives increase as the fellow-feeling with these joys and sorrows strengthens. If we contrast early poetry occupied mainly with war and gratifying the savage instincts by descriptions of bloody victories, with the poetry of modern times} in which the sanguinary forms but a small part while a large part, dealing· with the gentler affections, enlists the feelings of readers on behalf of the weak; we are shown that with the development of a more altruistio nature, there has been opened a sphere of enjoyment inaccessible to the callous egoism of barbarous times. So, too, between the fiction of the past and the fiction of the present, there is the difference that while the one was almost exclusively occupied with the doings of the ruling classes, and found· its plots in their antagonisms and deeds of violence, the other, chiefly taking stories of peaceful life for its subjects, and to a considerable extent the life of the humbler classes, discloses a new world of interest in the everyday pleasures and pains of ordinary people. .A. like contrast exis-ts between early and late forms of plastic art. When not representing acts of worship, the wall-sculptures and wall-paintings of the Assyrians and Egyptians, or the decorations of temples among the Greeks, represented deeds of conquest; whereas in modern times, while the works which glorify destructive activities are less numerous, there are an increasing number of works gratifying to the kindlier sentiments of spectators. To see that those who care nothing about the feelings of other beings are, by implication, shut out from a wide range. of resthetic pleasures, it needs but to ask whether men ,vho delight in dog-fights may be expected to appreciate Beethoven's Adelaida, or whether Tennyson's In Mm11loria1n would greatly move a gang of convicts.

§ 81. From the dawn of life, then, egoism has been dependent upon altruism as altruism has been dependent 216 THE DATA OF ETHICS. upon egoism; and in the course of evolution the reciprocal services of the two have been increasing. The physical and unconscious self-sacrifice of parents to form offspring, which the lowest living things display frum hour to hour, shows us in its primitive form the altruism ,,-hich nlakes possible the egoism of individual life and growth. As we .ascend· to higher grades of creatures) this parental altruism becomes a direct yielding up of only part of the body, joined with an increasing contribution from the remainder in the shape· of tissue wasted in efforts made OIl behalf of progeny. This indirect sacrifice of substance, replacing more and nlore' the direct sacrifice as parental ftltruism becomes higher, continues to the last to represent also altruism which is other than parental; since this, too, implies loss of substance in making efforts that do not bring their return in personal aggrandisement.

After noting how among nlankind parental altruism and family altruism pass into social altruism, we observed that a society, like a species, survives only on condition that each generation of its Inenlbers shall yield to the next, benefits equivalent to those it has received from the last. And this implies that care for the family must be supplemented by care for the society. Fulness of egoistic satisfactions in the associated state, depeuding primarily on maintenance of the nornlal relation between efforts expended and benefits obtained, which underlies all life, implies an altruism which both prompts equitable conduct ,and pronlpts the enforcing of equity. 'rhe well-being of each is involved with the well-being of 'all in sundry other ways. Whatever conduces to their vigour concerns him; for it diminishes the cost of everything he buys. Whatever conduces to their freedom from disease concerns him j for it diminishes his own liability to disease.

Whatever raises their intelligence concerns him; for incon veniences are daily entailed on him by others' ignorance or ALTRUISM VE RHUS EGOISM. 2]7 fony. Whatever l~aises their moral characters concerns him; for at every turn he suffers from the average unCOll .. scientiousness. Much more directly do his egoistic satisfactions depend on those altruistic activities which enlist the sympathies of. others. By alienating those around, selfishnesses loses the unbought aid, they can render; shuts out a wide range of social enjoyments; and fails to receive those exaltations of pleasure and mitigations o£pain, which come from men's fellow-feeling with those they like. Lastly, undue egoism defeats itself by bringing on an incapacity £01' happiness. Purely egoistic gratifications are rendered less keen by satiety, even in the earlier part 61 life, and almost disappear in the later; the less satiating gratifications of' altruism are luissed 'throughout life, 'and especially in that latter part when they largely replace egoistic gratifications ; and there is a lack of susceptibility to oosthetic pl~asures of the higher orders.

An indication must be added of the truth, scarcely at all recognized, that this dependence of egoism upon altruism ranges beyond the limits of each society, and tends ever towards universality. That within each society it becomes greater as social evolution, implying increase of mutual dependence, progresses, needs not be shown; and it is a coroll~ry that as fast as the dependence of societies on one another is increased by cOIDDlercialint8rcourse, the internal welfare of each becomes a matter of concern to the others. That the impoverishment of any country, diminishing both its producing and consuming powers, tells detrimentally on the peo"ple of countries trading with it, is a conlmonplace _ of political economy. Moreover, we have had of late years, abundant experience o£"the industrial derangements through which distress is brought on nations not imUlediately con cerned, by wars between other nations. And if each community has the egoistic satisfactions of its members 218 THE DATA OF ETHICS.

diminished by aggressions of neighbouring coulmunities on one another, still more does it have theul dinlinished by its own aggressions. One who marks ho\v, in various parts of the world, the unscrupulous greed of conquest cloaked by pretences of spreading the blessings of British rule and British religion, is now reacting to the inl111ense detriment of the industrial classes at horne, alike by increasing expendi. ture and paralyzing trade, may see that these industrial classes, absorbed in questions about capital and labour, and thinking themselves unconcerned in our doings abroad, are suffering from lack of that wide-reaching altruism which should insist on just dealings with other peoples, civilized or savage. And he may also see that beyond these immediate evils, they will for a generation to come suffer the evils that must flow from resuscitating the type of social organization which aggressive activities produce, and from the lowexed moral tone which is its a{\..(}ompaniment.