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THE PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS. 
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5 J 
It is quite unnecessary to remind Spencerians of this important 
passage in the philosopher’s works, but to the public, and especially 
the unthinking many—those to whom only by varied “ iteration 
can alien conceptions be forced on reluctant minds ”—it cannot be 
too frequently repeated. 
In the preface to the volume under consideration there occurs a 
sentence in which I think the foregoing truth has been emphasised 
in a way candid and ingenuous that ever marks the utterances of 
“ the apostle of the understanding.” He says : “Now that, by this 
issue of Part V. and VI., along with Part IV. previously published, 
I have succeeded in completing the second volume of ‘ The 
Principles of Ethics,’ which some years since I despaired of doing, 
my satisfaction^ somewhat dashed by the thought that these new 
parts fall short of expectation. The Doctrine of Evolution has not 
furnished guidance to the extent I had hoped. Most of the 
conclusions, drawn empirically, are such as right feelings, 
enlightened by cultivated intelligence, have already sufficed to 
establish. Beyond certain general sanctions indirectly referred to 
in verification, there are only here and there, and more especially 
in the closing chapters, conclusions evolutionary in origin that are 
additional to, or different from, those which are current. Some 
such result might have been foreseen. Bight regulation of the 
actions of so complex a being as Man, living under conditions 
so complex as those presented by a Society, evidently forms a 
subject-matter unlikely to admit of definite conclusions throughout 
its entire range. The simplest division of it—private conduct— 
necessarily dependent in part on the nature of the individual and 
his circumstances—can be prescribed but approximately ; and 
guidance must, in the main, be obtained by a judicial balancing of 
requirements and avoidance of extremes.” 
It will be remembered that in Part IV., “ Justice,” Mr. Spencer 
lays down the formula :—“ Every man is free to do that which he 
wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other 
man.” The only qualification to this is, as pointed out by 
Mr. Spencer, “ that the highest form of life, individual and social, 
October, 1893. 
