Sheldon — The Literature of Ethical Science. 105 



celebrated author of the "LebenJesu;" — "the summum 

 bonum is to realize the summus ego," from J. H. Muirhead ; — 

 " Wohl und Gedeihen der Gesellschaft," from Rudolph von 

 Jhering; — "not happiness, but blessedness," from Car- 

 lyle ; — "human welfare, Happiness, Being and Wellbeiug 

 combined; that is. Utility," from Alexander Bain; — "das 

 Streben nach Gliick, die Grundtriebfeder aller menschlichen 

 Unternehmungen," from Carneri ; — " die Verfolgung frem- 

 den Wohlseins als Zweck," from A. Doring; — " to make 

 as complete a system as possible of the ideas and purposes of 

 the self," from Bosanquet; — " Die Summe der Lust zu ver- 

 mehren, deren die Welt sich erfreut," from Lotze; — " the 

 natural good or perfection of man himself consists in the 

 possession of abundant faculties, active and passive, fully 

 developed, and in regular and equal exercise," from Edith 

 Simcox; — " Alle seine Anlagen durch Ubung zu Kriiften 

 und Fertigkeiten entfalten," from Paulsen. 



So too, in a writer like Steinthal we come upon a reference 

 to somethino; which he calls: " Ein Reich des Intelligibeln," 

 concerning which he says: "In diesem Reiche leben und 

 weben, in ihm geniessen und schaffen, es fordern und 

 mehren, ist der letzte Sinn der Sittlichkeit." In such a 

 master mind and scientifically gifted man as Wundt, we even 

 meet with a leaning towards mysticism in the effort to 

 get'i away from the happiness principle, where he speaks 

 about " ein allgemeiner Geist der Menschheit," as if it were 

 something as real as one's own consciousness, and says : 

 "Der Mensch kann das Gute nur erstreben, weil es ihn be- 

 gliickt ; aber das Gute selbst ist kein Gliicksgut, sondern ein 

 objectives geistiges ^rzeugniss.'' 



On the other hand, perhaps the most striking of all at this 

 moment is the attitude of two eminent writers who have 

 come out emphatically with the assertion that there can be no 

 one consistent expression for the highest good. As Carl 

 Simmel, of Berlin, expresses it: " Die Annahme, dass der 

 absolute Zweck nur einer sein konne, dass die Zwecke des 

 wirklichen oder gesollten Handelns, sobald sie iiberhaupt zum 

 Charakter des Endzwecks aufsteigen, nur in einem einzigen 



