CHAPTER V 



ALTRUISM A CONSCIOUS IDEAL 



It is not illogical to suppose that a high function of 

 human aspiration is the formation of ideals, not immediately 

 adopted as guides, but put out as tentative variations of the 

 conduct motive, to be tested by experience just as were 

 always all variations ; but which will be superior to accidental, 

 or to physically casual variation; and will find more rapid 

 paths upward, by the reasoning consciousness. 



But the test which these ideals receive is still measured 

 in terms of material prosperity. The highest phases of hu- 

 man endeavor toward co-operation make for that prosperity, 

 in the encouragement of good faith between man and man, 

 and in the cessation of destructive aggressiveness, and in the 

 adoption of united effort for mutual advantage, instead 

 of predatory effort for comparative elevation. In this way 

 there arises a more efficient type of organization, which 

 permits of unity of purpose in larger and more powerful 

 units; so that although the altruism of humanity is funda- 

 mentally the same as that of nature generally, yet it seems 

 to be only in humanity that there is conscious recognition 

 of its worth. Only the intellect of man, and only of highly 

 developed man, seems to show the conscious control of 



action with knowledge of consequences. This evolution does 



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