108 FROM COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART n 



social demand coincides exactly with the promptings 

 of rational self-interest Mr. Stephen holds that 

 morality means the law of the social weal, or the con- 

 ditions of maximum social efficiency. The law of 

 nature is summed up in one terse injunction : " Be 

 strong ! " The law of morality is similar : " Let 

 society be strong ! " And social strength or welfare 

 is found to lie in the individual virtues of courage, 

 temperance, and truthfulness, along with the more 

 directly social or altruistic virtue which is sometimes 

 hailed as "justice," and again as "benevolence," but 

 which, in every case, takes as its direct and supreme 

 rule the highest interests of society, or the welfare of 

 other persons. 



Mr. Stephen explains this conception of morality 

 by the aid of the idea of type. A type in each class, 

 apart from extrinsic and accidental tests, is that which 

 attains maximum efficiency. The most moral human 

 society is the most efficient or most prosperous human 

 society. Here then Mr. Stephen has found a second 

 answer to the question, How can empiricism speak of 

 morally better and morally worse ? The first answer 

 was provisional; the moral consciousness is a fact, 

 and we accept its utterances as approximately trust- 

 worthy. The second answer goes deeper. Morality 

 is not something externally added to social life, as a 

 necklace or a posy of flowers may form a slight addi- 

 tion to the graceful dress of a beautiful woman. 

 Morality is simply the perfect performance of social 

 functions, like the glow of health upon a beautiful 

 countenance. Therefore human life in society points 

 to perfect morality as its own typical perfection in the 

 way of vitality or of health. And here we see what 



