582 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 
in itself survives in a picture. The exclusiveness of the self, though it has no 
finality, is yet an indispensable phase of its life. 
(a) A world of commensurable values necessarily springs up as the result of 
man’s ‘ necessities’ as a finite being, the value of each individual being primarily 
measurable by his contribution to this world of values—by ‘what he is.’ To 
deny is again to abstract. 
(6) In this world division of labour and exchange of products are necessary 
economies—the revolt against this in itself (e.g., in H. G. Wells) is reactionary— 
and this involves competition between buyer and seller—the one guided by 
need of the product, the other by need of ‘remuneration’ (ultimately his con- 
tinued efficiency as a producer). 
(c) At any given stage markets and ‘places’ are definitely limited—the 
possible applicants are indefinite; giving rise again to competition between the 
sellers of the same article—goods or powers. 
The new philosophy comes not to destroy, but to fulfil; but the justifica- 
tion is not to be sought in the ‘rights of the individual,’ but in social well-being, 
which requires :— 
(i.) That everyone shall make himself of economic value. 
(ii.) That needs shall be supplied in the most economical way. 
(iii.) That the right man shall have the right place. 
The social problem is not therefore to be solved by ignoring or superseding 
this order, but by subordinating it to the wider ends of life, e.g., by the care of 
the industrially weak or unfit; the abolition of monopolies other than those 
which, like talents, represent intrinsic power of contributing to social values; 
protection against other forms of exploitation. For the rest there is no 
antagonism between the effects of competition and social organisation and indi- 
vidual well-being. The acquisition by personal effort on the part of the 
individual of industrial skill is the condition of acceptance by a protective 
organisation, e.g., a trade union; the most important condition of the happiness 
of a society of finite beings is that each should have the place suited to his 
owers. 
III. The general conclusion as to the work of economics: while it has nothing 
to do with ultimate ends, and cannot therefore prescribe laws for human life 
as a whole, or claim a place for its ideals where the ‘economic’ order is of 
necessity superseded by deeper organic relations, as in those of husband and wife, 
yet the more the importance of the material basis of civilisation and of men’s 
occupations in contributing to it comes to be recognised, the more value will 
be set on its researches. More particularly in the present time of the re-organi- 
sation of industry, with a view to the vindication of a truer individuality, do we 
want to know how the special changes advocated in their name—the minimum 
wage, the lengthening of the school period, modified forms of protection, the 
strengthening of the economic position of woman, industrial training, &c.—will 
affect the economic order as above described. 
2. Qualifications of Diminishing Utility. 
By W. R. Scorr, M.A., D.Phil., Tatt.D, 
A principle of increasing utility can be established from (1) the general 
experience of the race; (2) from actual instances; (3) deductively from the 
nature of desire. 
As a result of these inquiries it becomes possible to escape from the atomistic 
treatment of motives, considering a system of desire or scheme of consumption 
rather than the postulate of a separate want for each distinct commodity. The 
extent to which this synthesis should be extended. Applications of the new 
theory to taxation should be made cautiously. It has advantages for the 
general theory of political economy, in extending its symmetry, in removing its 
pessimism, and in bringing a reconciliation with poetry, philosophy, and art. 
