2OO Conscience presupposed. 



being. The derivation, I think we have shown, 

 is a failure. It becomes plausible only when we 

 grant, as Darwin does not, though the reader 

 generally does, that our hypothetical ancestor has 

 an intuitive perception of the superior excellence 

 of social over selfish instincts. And so it appears 

 that it is this inderivable moral consciousness, 

 this sense of right and wrong, this conscience, 

 and not any psychological play of egoistic and 

 altruistic impulses to action, that^ constitutes at 

 once the possibility and the foundation of re 

 morse. Darwin s derivation of it turns out a 

 gigantic varepov irporepov. 



