PROLEGOMENA TO ETHICS. 121 



is always the object of desire. Mr. Green is never 

 happier than when he is disentangling the con- 

 fusions of Utilitarian psychology. One has heard 

 much of the way in which Sir William Hamilton 

 wielded the metaphysical scythe. We venture to 

 think that there are passages in the " Prolegomena 

 to Ethics " which will bear comparison with any of 

 Sir William Hamilton's criticisms. If the style 

 is less trenchant, it is only because Mr. Green has 

 no interest in merely proving an opponent wrong. 

 He is anxious to discover in the confusion that 

 which made a false theory seem true. " A lie 

 which is all a lie " has no echo in the human 

 spirit. If, therefore, a false theory is commonly 

 received or is capable of plausible presentation, it 

 is owing to some truth which it has seized and 

 misinterpreted. 



Nothing could be better than the way in which 

 Mr. Green unravels the confusion of pleasure and 

 the good in his criticism of Utilitarianism. The 

 criticism is indeed as old as Aristotle ; just as the 

 confusion is inherent in Cyrenianism ; and none 

 knew this better than Mr. Green. The conscious 

 activity or self-realization is not the same as the 

 pleasure which always accompanies self-realization, 

 though " because they occur together some people 

 think they are the same," m St ro ^ \o)pi&crOai 

 TKJI raurov. 1 Few critics would have 



^th., X. v. 7. 



