Sheldon — The Literature of Ethical Science. 108 



*« The well-being of mankind," or *' allgemeine Wohlfahrt," 

 in place of happiness or " Gliickseligkeit." Here we begin 

 to see the influence of the doctrine of evolution. 



This whole theory, however, has passed on to a distinc- 

 tively new phase or type in the attitude of such men as Sir 

 Leslie Stephen. According to this writer, we are dealing 

 with what he terms graphically <* social tissue." The imme- 

 diate end is not happiness but the health of this social tissue. 

 Pleasure of one kind or another is only the indirect aim 

 or outcome. This standpoint should therefore go under a 

 new name and be called Evolutional Utilitarianism ; and in all 

 probability it' is in this form that the theory will continue to 

 survive . 



On the other hand, however, we notice a very distinct in- 

 clination on the part of many leading scholars to draw back 

 from this whole standpoint, with the conviction that there is 

 a certain other intellectual or spiritual element involved in the 

 ethical ideal, apart from any feeling of pleasure or happi- 

 ness. And in this direction we are meeting with a variety of 

 standpoints which could not be classed under one name. In 

 my own mind I think of the leaders in this other line as the 

 Idealists ; although it may not be quite fair to assume that 

 there is not a distinctive element of idealism in some of the 

 higher forms of Utilitarianism. For me it is much the deeper 

 and the broader attitude, and is represented by some of the 

 foremost thinkers, such as Wundt, Paulsen, Steinthal and a 

 number of others in Germany, who emphatically repudiate the 

 happiness principle. 



Over in England this other tendency has taken form in a 

 distinct school which is, however, represented by a most un- 

 satisfactory phrase in the term ** self-realization," as expres- 

 sive of the true ethical ideal. The leader for this standpoint 

 has been the late eminent scholar, Thomas Hill Green, whose 

 ** Prolegomena" is referred to by Mackenzie as ''probably 

 the most considerable contribution to ethical science that has 

 been made in England during the nineteenth century." 

 This group is often alluded to as constituting the Perfectionist 

 School . 



