INTRODUCTION 11 



that is, the evolution of force or energy, both in aggregate 

 amount and in variety ; and its concentration, through 

 increased complexity of structure and specialization of 

 function, either in individual organisms or in organized 

 communities. This latter distinction gives rise to a number 

 of difficult and important problems, which I have not been 

 able to take up ; but, in the main, the same principles 

 contribute to the advance or the decay of both state and 

 individual, and the omission is not fatal. Heroism is as 

 valuable and self-indulgence as baneful to the one as to 

 the other. But increase of force cannot be regarded as an 

 end in itself, and is only valuable as a means to an end. It 

 would be an impotent conclusion that the final end of evolu 

 tion was force, but not force that was to be used in any 

 assignable direction. And yet this is as far as we can go, 

 unless we are willing to assert an end that is transcendental. 

 Within the world of experience we find neither the type of 

 personality nor the kind of final end which is demanded 

 by the exigencies of a teleological explanation. 



Enough, for the present, has been said about evolution. 

 We may now approach the question of how human pre 

 ferences are determined, and what is the general principle 

 which explains why one kind of life or one line of conduct 

 is valued more highly than another. Our first observation 

 will be that what we have to examine for the detection of 

 this principle is not the motives to conduct, but the judge 

 ments which we pass either on the motives or on the conduct 

 itself. The detection of a universal motive would leave us 

 exactly where we were. It would throw no light on the 

 problem why we prefer one line of action to another ; as 

 the criterion between good and evil conduct could not 

 possibly be found in a feature which was common to both. 

 If all conduct is governed by the desire of happiness, it no 

 doubt follows that good conduct is governed by that desire, 

 as the part is included in the whole ; but so also, and for the 

 same reason, must bad conduct be governed ; and the only 

 conclusion possible is that the pursuit of happiness cannot 

 be the test of goodness, inasmuch as it fails to distinguish 



