56 ETHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



Muhammadan. These agree in promising rewards in a 

 future existence, but they are diametrically opposed in 

 their valuations of this life, and in the nature of the reward 

 they offer in the next. To the Hindu, not only are the 

 pains vastly in excess of the pleasures, but the pleasures 

 themselves are not worth having : the Mohammadan, like 

 Candide s immortal tutor, sees in the present the best of all 

 possible worlds. The Hindu promises, as the highest reward, 

 complete release from both pain and pleasure, and a state 

 of transcendental bliss : the paradise of the Muhammadan 

 is a continuation, with increase in number and intensity, 

 of the pleasures of the present, and an elimination of the 

 pains. Custom has always described the first of these 

 religions as pessimist, and the other as optimist, and if the 

 single fact that both hold out the prospect of happiness in 

 another world is to compel us to give up this classification, 

 we shall have to discover some new terms to distinguish their 

 opposite views as to the value of this life. This distinction, 

 moreover, is of the highest practical importance, and its 

 consequences reach far beyond the conduct of individuals. 

 We shall, therefore, in what follows, leave religious eschato- 

 logy on one side, and employ the terms optimist and pessimist 

 solely with reference to the facts of experience. When a reli 

 gion has to call in the pleasures of another world to redress 

 the balance of this, it must be described as pessimist. 



The words optimist and pessimist are often used to denote, 

 not a final decision, but a permanent disposition of mind. 

 Men whose judgements are charitable, who always see the 

 bright side of experience, and hope for the best, are called 

 optimists, while the opposite character is called pessimist. 

 This is not the sense in which the words are used here. 

 What we are contrasting are opposed general judgements 

 as to the worth of human life when tested by the algedonic 

 criterion. It is not necessary to our purpose that the 

 asserted preponderance of either pleasure or pain should be 

 great. As in commercial transactions a slight balance of 

 profit, after all expenditure of time, labour, and money has 

 been taken into account, will justify an undertaking ; so, 



