EVOLUTION 237 



social life progressively makes good. Morality moves 

 within this hypothesis ; it finds its basis in it as a postulate, 

 and its goal in it as an ideal. The recognition of an act 

 as obligatory, the consciousness that a thing done is 

 "right," is the recognition of it as an instance of a good 

 that is universal, unconditioned, existing on its own 

 account, and binding just for that reason. Every right 

 action is a fresh reification of a universal law of goodness, 

 and therefore a contribution to the welfare of all ; and every 

 wrong deed is a public calamity. Hence the distinction 

 oJjgriyatejTorn public good is, in the moral sphere, entirely 

 false. There is no duty to self that is not also a duty to 

 others, and no duty to others which is not the most supreme 

 and most intimate good of the self. Morality is no alter- 

 nation of egoism and altruism, or compromise between 

 private_and public welfare, but a process of giving indi- 

 vidual form to universal principles. It is hardly necessary 

 to say that this process is in every sense incomplete and 

 imperfect. The principle of the whole is most inade- 

 quately realized and exemplified in the details of human 

 action. The universal and the particular elements of the 

 good are most incompletely reconciled, and are often in 

 direct conflict. But this comes from the fact that society 

 is not a consistent whole, and that its members are incom- 

 plete individuals. There is neither perfect law nor perfect 

 liberty. The evolution of the individual's powers is 

 hindered by the hard necessities of an imperfectly moralized 

 social system, and the evolution of the public good is 

 barHed by the narrow views and the unsocialized wills of 

 individuals. 



In the presence of these facts, which broadly characterize 

 modern life, with its unceasing conflict of the interests of 



