MORAL EVOLUTION 287 



ing time had k < two minds " as to the desirability of devoting her 

 life to the care of her young would not be successful in rearing 

 any. It is only when the edge of Natural Selection is blunted, 

 and the unworthy are allowed to survive, that the apparent 

 antagonism between the interest of the individual and that of the 

 community makes itself felt. With the blunting of Natural 

 Selection definite moral goodness and sin appear in the world, 

 owing to the fact that aberrations under the new conditions are 

 ruinous, not so much to the individual as to the community to 

 which he belongs. Under these circumstances there is con- 

 sciousness of free will we all assume it and act upon the 

 assumption, however decisively we may be defeated when we 

 argue for it. Indeed, to assume it is the only working hypothesis. 

 There is freedom to choose between right and wrong. But to 

 discuss free will is altogether beyond the scope of this book. 



The old proverb " honesty is the best policy" does not recog- 

 nise any antagonism of interests. But interpreted, as it usually 

 is, to mean that material prosperity will necessarily result from 

 honest dealing, whereas the knave will be unsuccessful in his 

 attempts to make money because of his knavery, the proverb 

 hardly represents things as they are : fortunes are often 

 accumulated by the aid of very questionable practices. But, of 

 course, there is a sense in which it is to the interest of every 

 individual to be honest. If we start with the assumption, from 

 which no good man would withhold his assent, that nobility of 

 character is the best thing we know of, then the dishonest man 

 forfeits by his dishonesty that which is best worth having. 

 There is, therefore, no antagonism between the true interest of 

 the individual and that of the community. A man of noble 

 character identifies his interest with that of others. . Without 

 such identification none of the noblest actions would be possible. 

 When a man is doing a deed heroic enough to deserve the 

 Victoria Cross, however great the risk and pain involved, we 

 cannot doubt that his action brings with it a conscious enjoyment. 

 It is the completeness with which he makes the interest of others 

 his own that gives the motive for the noble action, and that must 

 give rise at the moment to a feeling of satisfaction. 



