142 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



uo attempt been made to prove that all human actions 

 are due to selfishness more or less refined ? It is very 

 unwise to apply tests and use arguments concerning 

 animals which, if applied with equal strictness to 

 human conduct, would prove human society irrational 

 and purely selfish. 



Mammals may be self-centred. But the highest 

 forms have set their faces away from self and toward 

 the non-self ; some have at least started on the road 

 which leads to unselfishness. 



And man is governed to a certain extent by pruden- 

 tial considerations. If he entirely disregarded these 

 he would not be wise. But the development of the 

 rational faculty has brought before his mind a series 

 of motives higher than these, which are slowly but 

 surely superseding them. Truth, right, and duty are 

 motives of a different order. "With regard to these 

 there can be no question of profit or loss. Here the 

 mind cannot stop to ask. Will it pay ? Self must be 

 left out of account. 



" When duty whispers low, Thou must, 

 The soul replies, I can." 



And thus man rises above appetite, above pruden- 

 tial considerations, and becomes a free and moral agent. 

 And family and social life bring him into new rela- 

 tions, press home upon him new duties and responsi- 

 bilities, every one of which is a new motive compelling 

 him to rise above self. And thus the unselfish, altru- 

 istic emotions have made man what he is, and are in 

 him, ever advancing toward their future supremacy. 

 But some one will say. This is a very pretty theory ; it 

 is not history. But the perception of truth and right 



