88 COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART n 



which thought can discover no deeper foundations in 

 the abyss of the past, thence on to the present, all 

 things, as they have evolved, have grown ever more 

 and more complex ; let us too join the onward march ; 

 let our minds expand and ramify and interweave their 

 forces ; let us grow ever better and better by growing 

 ever more and more elaborate and intricate in our 

 behaviour ! An impressive appeal, if you have any sort 

 of religious faith, theistic or even pantheistic. If " all 

 things are working together for good," then the 

 behaviour of " all things " may well furnish a type for 

 our own conduct. But, apart from the assumptions of 

 religious faith, it hardly seems possible that so abstract 

 a formula as " growing complexity " should command 

 the reverence of the human conscience. And one is 

 driven to ask whether conscience has not its own tests ? 

 And whether Spencer's appeal does not carry its own 

 limited cogency just upon this account, because it has 

 been examined, and, in a sense, countersigned by 

 conscience ? Whatever may be the philosophy of 

 conscience, the voice of conscience does not wait for 

 authority from evolutionary doctrine or from any other 

 outside critic, before telling us, and that in no faltering 

 tones, that goodness is wise, that sin is foolish, and 

 that wisdom, which is one name for goodness, demands 

 from us progress, both intellectual and moral. 



The second of Spencer's ruling moral conceptions is 

 that of a balance between egoism and altruism. This 

 balance is twofold ; there is to be a balance between 

 egoistic and altruistic promptings in the individual ; and 

 there is to be a balance between personal gratification 

 and social service in experience. But the two processes 

 are to be developed harmoniously, and are to achieve 

 their tasks together. On one side, this draws from 



