CHAPTER II 



CONDUCT 



Conduct is for a human being the choice of what he 

 will do and what he will not do, the action and way of living 

 of the individual in relation to others and to the universe. 

 The basis of right conduct is self-interest of the most far 

 seeking kind. It is more than mere endurance or deport- 

 ment; it comes of th e will and intej ligence, and of an atti- 

 tude of activity not like that of the lower creatures of mere 

 sentience, which is one of responsive submission. Yet this 

 intelligent volition is not the faculty of humanity only. 

 In its inferior phases it indicates to lower life the course 

 of all voluntary action. Conduct is the behavior of a 

 creature, which, when several courses of deeds are possible, 

 selects and does that which it prefers, instead of accepting 

 the one which is most obvious. 



The existence of very primitive creatures is simply the 

 passive acceptance of all things that happen, and of their 

 consequences, and whether an event brings life and susten- 

 ance, or whether it brings death; no difference is made in 

 the behavior of the creature; the effects appear in due fol- 

 lowing of the cause, in a sequence which could not be 

 changed. 



In contrast with this way of existing, the creatures which 



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