358 Morality and Self-interest 



action is evil, however pure the intentions of its 

 author may be. A public official might be honest 

 on account of simple instinctive horror of stealing, 

 but this does not contradict the truth that to steal 

 from a state is an evil action only because it is 

 contrary to the interest of this official. If his 

 corruption did not cause him any evil, direct 

 or indirect, it would not be immoral. 



To sum up, if it is not morality which produces 

 the happiness of the individual, can it be immoral- 

 ity which produces this happiness? It is im- 

 possible to sustain such a paradox, for it amounts 

 to saying that in order to be happy one must be 

 vicious. To affirm that an action is moral which 

 results in evil for its author is to maintain that 

 living beings do not seek pleasure and avoid suffer- 

 ing. This is to affirm that death is life. These 

 suppositions are so contradictory that we are 

 compelled to adopt the conclusion that morality 

 and self-interest are identical. 



The supposed antagonism between morality and 

 interest has brought morality into derision and 

 even aroused hatred against it in our otherwise 

 scientific age. A greater calamity can scarcely be 

 imagined, for it leads in the last analysis to com- 

 plete confusion in making nations and individuals 

 accept evil for good. It results in plunging the 

 human mind into the most despairing anarchy. 

 With the disintegration of the old basis of author- 

 ity as the sanction for morality, which resulted 

 from the rise of the modern scientific spirit, and 



