A Writer's Notebook (11 page)

One's relation to society is the same as that of the savage who is restrained from acting to the detriment of his fellows by fear of the vengeance they will take on him.

If morality has evolved with the evolution of society, as means to social self-preservation, it has not necessarily anything to do with the individual.

It is odd that in so many cases the individual conscience should judge according to the precepts of society.

Man's duty is to exercise all his functions, permitting none to overbear the others. When between man and man there are innumerable differences how can there be a common system of morality?

The difficulty is to find the common denominator that governs the actions of men.

Most people pay eighteenpence for every shilling they get. In putting aside an immediate advantage for one more remote, one has to be certain that the more remote is greater. Remoteness in itself is no advantage.

Altruism without pleasure, immediate or remote, is absurd. When one expects unselfishness from another and does not get it, one can only shrug one's shoulder and pass on. Certainly one has no right to be angry.

What if an individual does not care if his race survives? What if he is not prepared for the sacrifice entailed by propagation of his species?

Unselfish parents have selfish children. It is not the children's fault. It is natural that they should accept the sacrifices their parents make for them as their right; and how should they know that in this world you get nothing for nothing?

From the standpoint of pure reason, there are no good grounds to support the claim that one should sacrifice one's own happiness to that of others.

Even if it is held that pure unselfishness without afterthought gives most pleasure and brings the greatest rewards, that pleasure and those rewards are still its justification.

There would be very little altruism in the world if it were not a source of pleasure. In some way or other everyone expects a return for his unselfishness. There is no such thing as absolute altruism. Social altruism means no more than that there is often an advantage to the individual in sacrificing himself for others. The only self-sacrifice which is primordial is that which has to do with the production and rearing of young. But here the strongest of animal instincts is concerned, and extreme discomfort, real pain even, ensues if its exercise is
thwarted. Parents are foolish when they accuse their children of ingratitude; they should remember that what they have done for them was for their own pleasure.