The Descent of Man 



actions; but the more important elements are 

 love and the distinct emotion of sympathy. 

 Animals endowed with the social instincts take 

 pleasure in one another's company, warn one 

 another of danger, defend and aid one another 

 in many ways. These instincts do not extend 

 to all the individuals of the species, but only 

 to those of the same community. As they 

 are highly beneficial to the species they have 

 in all probability been acquired through natural 

 selection. 



A moral being is one who is capable of re- 

 flecting on his past actions and their motives 

 — of approving of some and disapproving of 

 others; and the fact that man is the one being 

 who certainly deserves this designation is the 

 greatest of all distinctions between him and the 

 lower animals. But in the fourth chapter I 

 have endeavoured to show that the moral sense 

 follows, firstly, from the enduring and ever- 

 present nature of the social instincts; secondly, 

 from man's appreciation of the approbation 

 and disapprobation of his fellows; and, thirdly, 

 from the high activity of his mental faculties, 

 with past impressions extremely vivid; and in 

 these latter respects he differs from the lower 

 animals. Owing to this condition of mind, 

 man cannot avoid looking both backward and 

 forward and comparing past impressions. 

 Hence, after some temporary desire or passion 

 has mastered his social instincts, he reflects 

 and compares the now weakened impression of 

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