EGOISM AND ALTRUISM 247 



II. Egoism and Altruism. 



Everything has been evolved — everything — from 

 daffodils to states and from ticks to religion. 

 Every organic thing is the result of long and 

 incessant survival of the advantageous — advanta- 

 geous from the standpoint of the organism itself 

 or from the standpoint of its kind, not necessarily 

 so from the standpoint of the universe. That 

 which is true of everything is true also of egoism 

 and altruism. Egoism and altruism exist as facts 

 in the natures of human and other beings for the 

 same reason that the various physical facts exist 

 in the structures of human and other beings, 

 because they have been advantageous in the 

 struggle for life. There is just as definite an 

 explanation for the existence of egoism and 

 altruism in this world, and for their existence in 

 the particular form and ratio in which they do 

 exist, as there is for the fact that the human hand 

 has five fingers, the rose odour, and the eggs of the 

 kildeer the mottled markings of the clods among 

 which they lie. 



Egoism is preference for self, partiality toward 

 that part of the universe bounded by one's own 

 skin. It may consist simply of regard for self, 

 but with regard for self is usually associated 

 enmity toward others. Egoism manifests itself 

 in such qualities of mind as selfishness, cruelty, 

 intolerance, hate, harJheartedness, savagery, rude- 

 ness, injustice, narrowness, and the like. It is the 

 primal impulse of the living heart. Enmity is 



