OUR MONISTIC ETHICS. 359 



love of oneself and the love of one's neighbour." The 

 Golden Rule says : " Do unto others as you would that 

 they should do unto you." From this highest precept 

 of Christianity it follows of itself that we have just 

 as sacred duties towards ourselves as we have 

 towards our fellows. I have explained my con- 

 ception of this principle in my Monism, and laid 

 down three important theses. (1) Both these con- 

 current impulses are natural laws, of equal importance 

 and necessity for the preservation of the family and 

 the society ; egoism secures the self-preservation of 

 the individual, altruism that of the species which 

 is made up of the chain of perishable individuals. 

 (2) The social duties which are imposed by the social 

 structure of the associated individuals, and by means 

 of which it secures its preservation, are merely higher 

 evolutionary stages of the social instincts, which we 

 find in all higher social animals (as " habits which 

 have become hereditary "). (3) In the case of civilized 

 man all ethics, theoretical or practical, being " a 

 science of rules," is connected with his view of the 

 world at large, and consequently with his religion. 



From the recognition of the fundamental principle 

 of our morality we may immediately deduce its 

 highest precept, that noble command which is often 

 called the Golden Rule of morals, or, briefly, the 

 Golden Rule. Christ repeatedly expressed it in the 

 simple phrase: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 

 thyself." Mark adds that " there is no greater 

 commandment than this," and Matthew says : " In 

 these two commandments is the whole law and the 

 prophets." In this greatest and highest command- 

 ment our monistic ethics is completely at one with 

 Christianity. We must, however, recall the historical 



