148 INTRODUCTION 



Justice. Self-love, Love of Man and Love of God. 



Self-love, more or less enlightened, is the ground of all 

 our actions. And the more enlightened our self-love is, 

 the higher is the ethical value of our action and the better 

 are its results. But as, like all other Monads, our souls 

 are not mere self-centred atoms but reflect the whole 

 universe, our self-love is at the same time, according to 

 its degree, a love for others. To love others is to desire 

 their good as we desire our own. And as it is the 

 essence of our souls to represent or perceive all other 

 souls, the more enlightened our own desire of good is, 

 the more are we seeking the highest good of others and 

 fulfilling the ends of God. We can really love others, 

 and express our love to them only in proportion as we 

 clearly perceive what is best for them ; and the more 

 clearly we perceive what is best for ourselves, the more 

 clearly we perceive what is best for them. This follows 

 from the very constitution of our being. In other words, 

 we seek our own perfection, however blindly ; and we 

 are so united to all other men, that in realizing our own 

 perfection we are also realizing theirs. Thus the more 

 enlightened our self-love is the more disinterested does 

 it become and the more nearly does it approach to a pure 

 love of God *. 



Accordingly love is the root of law. Law is not a 

 merely external arrangement, an arbitrary command, an 

 expression of bare power. It is a moral power, and 

 'moral' means that which is natural to a good man. 

 t A good man is one who loves all men, so far as reason 

 allows. Accordingly,' says Leibniz, 'justice (which is 

 the ruling virtue of that aifection which the Greeks call 

 <j>LXavOpu7ria.) will, if I mistake not, be most fittingly 

 defined as the charity of a wise man, that is to say, charity 

 in obedience to the dictates of wisdom. . . . Charity is 



1 Cf. On the Notions of Right and Justice, p. 285 (E. 118 b). 



