VALUATIONS OF PLEASURE AND PAIN 109 



ciple in human nature which compels or justifies their forcible 

 imposition on individuals who do not accept them as valid 

 for themselves ; and the attempt, though it is often made, 

 offends against both prudence and morality ; it is both 

 inexpedient and unjust ; every man must be happy in his 

 own way, or not at all. 



But, it will be objected, though no objective scale of alge- 

 donic values may be obtainable, it is manifestly untrue 

 that prudence has no value. Even Kant admits that it is 

 not only what a man does without reference to the enjoy 

 ment of himself and others that gives a value to his exis 

 tence in the world. Are we to conclude that all pleasures 

 are of equal value ? The answer must surely be in the 

 negative. What, then, in the absence of any objective 

 standard determines our valuation ? The explanation 

 is, I think, quite clear, and, with reference to a recent 

 philosophic difficulty, of some importance. It shows that 

 there is, after all, no need for the assumption of any other 

 test of value except the ethical, and that pleasures, when 

 regarded by themselves, and isolated from their concomi 

 tants, have only trivial differences in this respect. 



What Kant had in mind were, no doubt, our judgements 

 of value on acts of benevolence, and we must look at these 

 a little more closely, in the hope of discerning exactly what 

 it is we value in them. It will be found that they are valued 

 in proportion to the ethical elements which enter into the 

 total amalgam of motives, and that the amount of resultant 

 or anticipated happiness has no appreciable influence on 

 our judgements ; that is to say, that a man s action is valued 

 (as far as pleasure enters into the calculation at all) in 

 proportion to the pleasure he foregoes, and not in pro 

 portion to the pleasure he creates. A despot confers an 

 immense benefit on his subjects by widening and embel 

 lishing the streets of his capital ; but his aim is to strengthen 

 his dynasty, and he will not be esteemed so highly as the 

 poor widow who contributes her farthing for the wants of 

 those who are poorer than herself. A millionaire who 

 distributes in charity money for which he has no use himself 



