Character 137 



end, are the natural impulses and emotions 

 fully satisfied. 



If deficits end in acquired characters, such as 

 local traditions and a moral code, they will im- 

 press motives of economy and of self-assertion. 

 Selfishness is a consciously acquired aptitude 

 due to existence under conditions which have 

 created a deficit. Self-interest acts either 

 through imitation or through a rational utili- 

 tarianism. It is not a natural character; it is 

 the acquired result of a deficit. Altruism, 

 however, is an inherited impulse aroused by 

 a surplus which moves outward through char- 

 acters not created by the present environment 

 and, hence, not determined by it in their ac- 

 tivity. So long as the surplus continues, the 

 conscious attitude of the recipient is altruistic 

 and the surplus is used for other than indi- 

 vidual ends. A struggle now begins between 

 the motives resulting from a surplus which acts 

 through newly aroused natural characters, and 

 the rational or imitative habits which, t as ac- 

 quired characters, are impressed upon men 

 by their inherited traditions. The intensity 

 of selfishness is determined by the number of 



