,,what ,i ,,believe ,,the ,,to-,,day ,,and ,,to-,,morrow ,,series ,d,,dalus1 or ,science and the ,future ,by ,j4 ,b4 ,s4 ,haldane ,,icarus1 or ,the ,future of ,science ,by the ,hon4 ,bertrand ,russell1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,,the ,,mongol ,,in ,,our ,,midst ,by ,f4 ,g4 ,crookshank1 ,m4,d4 ,fully ,illustrated ,,wireless ,,possibilities ,by ,prof4 ,a4 ,m4 ,low4 ,with four ,diagrams ,,tantalus1 or ,the ,future of ,man ,by ,f4 ,c4 ,s4 ,schiller ,,narcissus1 ,an ,anatomy of ,clothes ,by ,gerald ,heard4 ,illustrated ,,callinicus1 ,a ,defence of ,chemical ,warfare ,by ,j4 ,b4 ,s4 ,haldane ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,the ,,phantoms ,by ,c4 ,j4 ,patten1 ,m4,a41 ,m4,d41 ,sc4,d41 ,f4,r4,a4,i4 ,,quo ,,vadimus8 ,some ,glimpses of the ,future ,by ,e4 ,e4 ,fournier d',albe1 ,d4,sc41 ,f4,inst4,p4 ,,the ,,conquest ,,of ,,cancer ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,s4 ,wright1 ,m4,s41 ,f4,r4,c4,s4 ,,lysistrata1 or ,woman and the ,future ,by ,anthony ,m4 ,ludovici ,,what ,i ,,believe ,by the ,hon4 ,bertrand ,russell1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,,hypatia ,by ,dora ,russell 7,the ,hon4 ,mrs4 ,bertrand ,russell7 ,in ,preparation ,,perseus1 of ,dragons ,by ,h4 ,f4 ,scott ,stokes1 ,m4,a4 ,,the ,,evocation ,,of ,,genius ,by ,alan ,porter ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,sex ,by ,rebecca ,west ,,aesculapius1 or ,disease and ,the ,man ,by ,f4 ,g4 ,crookshank1 ,m4,d4 ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,company ,,what ,i ,,believe ,,by ,,bertrand ,,russell ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,company #fha ,,fifth ,,avenue ,copyright1 #aibe ,by ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,company ,all ,rights ,reserved ,first ,printing1 ,april1 #aibe ,second ,printing1 ,june1 #aibe ,third ,printing1 ,june1 #aibe ,fourth ,printing1 ,march1 #aibf ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,of ,,america ,,preface ,in this little book1 ,i have tried to say what ,i think of man's place in the universe1 and of his possibilities in the way of achieving the good life4 ,in ,icarus ,i expressed my fears2 in the following pages ,i have expressed my hopes4 ,the inconsistency is only apparent4 ,except in astronomy1 mankind have not achieved the art of predicting the future2 in human affairs1 we can see that there are forces making for happiness1 and forces making for misery4 ,we do not know which will prevail1 but to act wisely we must be aware of both4 ,january #ast1 #aibe ,b4 ,r4 ,,table ,,of ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,page ,i ,,nature ,,and ,,man #a ,,ii ,,the ,,good ,,life #ai ,,iii ,,moral ,,rules #ce ,,iv ,,salvation3 ,,individual ,,and ,,social #ee ,v ,,science ,,and ,,happiness #fe ,,what ,i ,,believe ,,chapter ,i ,,nature ,,and ,,man ,man is a part of ,nature1 not something contrasted with ,nature4 ,his thoughts and his bodily movements follow the same laws that describe the motions of stars and atoms4 ,the physical world is large compared with ,manlarger than it was thought to be in ,dante's time1 but not so large as it seemed a hundred years ago4 ,both upward and downward1 both in the large and in the small1 science seems to be reaching limits4 ,it is thought that the universe is of finite extent in space1 and that light could travel round it in a few hundred millions of years4 ,it is thought that matter consists of electrons and protons1 which are of finite size1 and of which there are only a finite number in the world4 ,probably their changes are not continuous1 as used to be thought1 but proceed by jerks1 which are never smaller than a certain minimum jerk4 ,the laws of these changes can apparently be summed up in a small number of very general principles1 which determine the past and the future of the world when any small section of its history is known4 ,physical science is thus approaching the stage when it will be complete1 and therefore uninteresting4 ,given the laws governing the motions of electrons and protons1 the rest is merely geographya collection of particular facts telling their distribution throughout some portion of the world's history4 ,the total number of facts of geography required to determine the world's history is probably finite2 theoretically1 they could all be written down in a big book to be kept at ,somerset ,house1 with a calculating machine attached1 which1 by turning a handle1 would enable the inquirer to find out the facts at other times than those recorded4 ,it is difficult to imagine anything less interesting1 or more different from the passionate delights of incomplete discovery4 ,it is like climbing a high mountain and finding nothing at the top except a restaurant where they sell ginger-beer1 surrounded by fog but equipped with wireless4 ,perhaps in the time of ,ahmes the multiplication-table was exciting4 ,of this physical world1 uninteresting in itself1 ,man is a part4 ,his body1 like other matter1 is composed of electrons and protons1 which1 so far as we know1 obey the same laws as those not forming part of animals or plants4 ,there are some who maintain that physiology can never be reduced to physics1 but their arguments are not very convincing and it seems prudent to suppose that they are mistaken4 ,what we call our 8thoughts0 seem to depend upon the organization of tracks in the brain in the same sort of way in which journeys depend upon roads and railways4 ,the energy used in thinking seems to have a chemical origin2 for instance1 a deficiency of iodine will turn a clever man into an idiot4 ,mental phenomena seem to be bound up with material structure4 ,if this be so1 we cannot suppose that a solitary electron or proton can 8think02 we might as well expect a solitary individual to play a football match4 ,we also cannot suppose that an individual's thinking survives bodily death1 since that destroys the organization of the brain1 and dissipates the energy which utilized the brain-tracks4 ,god and immortality1 the central dogmas of the ,christian religion1 find no support in science4 ,it cannot be said that either doctrine is essential to religion1 since neither is found in ,buddhism4 7,with regard to immortality1 this statement in an unqualified form might be misleading1 but it is correct in the last analysis74 ,but we in the ,west have come to think of them as the irreducible minimum of theology4 ,no doubt people will continue to entertain these beliefs1 because they are pleasant1 just as it is pleasant to think ourselves virtuous and our enemies wicked4 ,but for my part ,i cannot see any ground for either4 ,i do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no ,god4 ,i equally cannot prove that ,satan is a fiction4 ,the ,christian ,god may exist2 so may the ,gods of ,olympus1 or of ancient ,egypt1 or of ,babylon4 ,but no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other3 they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge1 and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them4 ,i shall not enlarge upon this question1 as ,i have dealt with it elsewhere4,a ,a ,see my ,philosophy of ,leibniz1 ,chapter ,,xv4 ,the question of personal immortality stands on a somewhat different footing4 ,here evidence either way is possible4 ,persons are part of the everyday world with which science is concerned1 and the conditions which determine their existence are discoverable4 ,a drop of water is not immortal2 it can be resolved into oxygen and hydrogen4 ,if1 therefore1 a drop of water were to maintain that it had a quality of aqueousness which would survive its dissolution1 we should be inclined to be sceptical4 ,in like manner we know that the brain is not immortal1 and that the organized energy of a living body becomes1 as it were1 demobilized at death1 and therefore not available for collective action4 ,all the evidence goes to show that what we regard as our mental life is bound up with brain-structure and organized bodily energy4 ,therefore it is rational to suppose that mental life ceases when bodily life ceases4 ,the argument is only one of probability1 but it is as strong as those upon which most scientific conclusions are based4 ,there are various grounds upon which this conclusion might be attacked4 ,psychical research professes to have actual scientific evidence of survival1 and undoubtedly its procedure is1 in principle1 scientifically correct4 ,evidence of this sort might be so overwhelming that no one with a scientific temper could reject it4 ,the weight to be attached to the evidence1 however1 must depend upon the antecedent probability of the hypothesis of survival4 ,there are always different ways of accounting for any set of phenomena1 and of these we should prefer the one which is antecedently least improbable4 ,those who already think it likely that we survive death will be ready to view this theory as the best explanation of psychical phenomena4 ,those1 who1 on other grounds1 regard this theory as unplausible will seek for other explanations4 ,for my part1 ,i consider the evidence so far adduced by psychical research in favour of survival much weaker than the physiological evidence on the other side4 ,but ,i fully admit that it might at any moment become stronger1 and in that case it would be unscientific to disbelieve in survival4 ,survival of bodily death is1 however1 a different matter from immortality3 it may only mean a postponement of psychical death4 ,it is immortality that men desire to believe in4 ,believers in immortality will object to physiological arguments1 such as ,i have been using1 on the ground that soul and body are totally disparate1 and that the soul is something quite other than its empirical manifestations through our bodily organs4 ,i believe this to be a metaphysical superstition4 ,mind and matter alike are for certain purposes convenient terms1 but are not ultimate realities4 ,electrons and protons1 like the soul1 are logical fictions3 each is really a history1 a series of events1 not a single persistent entity4 ,in the case of the soul1 this is obvious from the facts of growth4 ,whoever considers conception1 gestation1 and infancy cannot seriously believe that the soul is an indivisible something1 perfect and complete throughout this process4 ,it is evident that it grows like the body1 and that it derives both from the spermatozoon and from the ovum1 so that it cannot be indivisible4 ,this is not materialism3 it is merely the recognition that everything interesting is a matter of organization1 not of primal substance4 ,metaphysicians have advanced innumerable arguments to prove that the soul must be immortal4 ,there is one simple test by which all these arguments can be demolished4 ,they all prove equally that the soul must pervade all space4 ,but as we are not so anxious to be fat as to live long1 none of the metaphysicians in question have ever noticed this application of their reasonings4 ,this is an instance of the amazing power of desire in blinding even very able men to fallacies which would otherwise be obvious at once4 ,if we were not afraid of death1 ,i do not believe that the idea of immortality would ever have arisen4 ,fear is the basis of religious dogma1 as of so much else in human life4 ,fear of human beings1 individually or collectively1 dominates much of our social life1 but it is fear of nature that gives rise to religion4 ,the antithesis of mind and matter is1 as we have seen1 more or less illusory2 but there is another antithesis which is more importantthat1 namely1 between things that can be affected by our desires and things that cannot be so affected4 ,the line between the two is neither sharp nor immutableas science advances1 more and more things are brought under human control4 ,nevertheless there remain things definitely on the other side4 ,among these are all the large facts of our world1 the sort of facts that are dealt with by astronomy4 ,it is only facts on or near the surface of the earth that we can1 to some extent1 mould to suit our desires4 ,and even on the surface of the earth1 our powers are very limited4 ,above all1 we cannot prevent death1 although we can often delay it4 ,religion is an attempt to overcome this antithesis4 ,if the world is controlled by ,god1 and ,god can be moved by prayer1 we acquire a share in omnipotence4 ,in former days1 miracles happened in answer to prayer2 they still do in the ,catholic ,church1 but ,protestants have lost this power4 ,however1 it is possible to dispense with miracles1 since ,providence has decreed that the operation of natural laws shall produce the best possible results4 ,thus belief in ,god still serves to humanize the world of nature1 and to make men feel that physical forces are really their allies4 ,in like manner immortality removes the terror from death4 ,people who believe that when they die they will inherit eternal bliss may be expected to view death without horror1 though1 fortunately for medical men1 this does not invariably happen4 ,it does1 however1 soothe men's fears somewhat1 even when it cannot allay them wholly4 ,religion1 since it has its source in terror1 has dignified certain kinds of fear1 and made people think them not disgraceful4 ,in this it has done mankind a great disservice3 all fear is bad1 and ought to be overcome not by fairy tales1 but by courage and rational reflection4 ,i believe that when ,i die ,i shall rot1 and nothing of my ego will survive4 ,i am not young1 and ,i love life4 ,but ,i should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation4 ,happiness is none the less true happiness because it must come to an end1 nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting4 ,many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold3 surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world4 ,even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths1 in the end the fresh air brings vigour1 and the great spaces have a splendour of their own4 ,the philosophy of nature is one thing1 the philosophy of value is quite another4 ,nothing but harm can come of confusing them4 ,what we think good1 what we should like1 has no bearing whatever upon what is1 which is the question for the philosophy of nature4 ,on the other hand1 we cannot be forbidden to value this or that on the ground that the non-human world does not value it1 nor can we be compelled to admire anything because it is a 8law of nature40 ,undoubtedly we are part of nature1 which has produced our desires1 our hopes and fears1 in accordance with laws which the physicist is beginning to discover4 ,in this sense we are part of nature2 in the philosophy of nature1 we are subordinated to nature1 the outcome of natural laws1 and their victims in the long run4 ,the philosophy of nature must not be unduly terrestrial2 for it1 the earth is merely one of the smaller planets of one of the smaller stars of the ,milky ,way4 ,it would be ridiculous to warp the philosophy of nature in order to bring out results that are pleasing to the tiny parasites of this insignificant planet4 ,vitalism as a philosophy1 and evolutionism1 show1 in this respect1 a lack of sense of proportion and logical relevance4 ,they regard the facts of life1 which are personally interesting to us1 as having a cosmic significance1 not a significance confined to the earth's surface4 ,optimism and pessimism1 as cosmic philosophies1 show the same nave humanism3 the great world1 so far as we know it from the philosophy of nature1 is neither good nor bad1 and is not concerned to make us either happy or unhappy4 ,all such philosophies spring from self-importance1 and are best corrected by a little astronomy4 ,but in the philosophy of value the situation is reversed4 ,nature is only a part of what we can imagine2 everything1 real or imagined1 can be appraised by us1 and there is no outside standard to show that our valuation is wrong4 ,we are ourselves the ultimate and irrefutable arbiters of value1 and in the world of value ,nature is only a part4 ,thus in this world we are greater than ,nature4 ,in the world of values1 ,nature in itself is neutral1 neither good nor bad1 deserving of neither admiration nor censure4 ,it is we who create value1 and our desires which confer value4 ,in this realm we are kings1 and we debase our kingship if we bow down to ,nature4 ,it is for us to determine the good life1 not for ,naturenot even for ,nature personified as ,god4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,good ,,life ,there have been at different times and among different people many varying conceptions of the good life4 ,to some extent the differences were amenable to argument2 this was when men differed as to the means to achieve a given end4 ,some think that prison is a good way of preventing crime2 others hold that education would be better4 ,a difference of this sort can be decided by sufficient evidence4 ,but some differences cannot be tested in this way4 ,tolstoy condemned all war2 others have held the life of a soldier doing battle for the right to be very noble4 ,here there was probably involved a real difference as to ends4 ,those who praise the soldier usually consider the punishment of sinners a good thing in itself2 ,tolstoy did not think so4 ,on such a matter1 no argument is possible4 ,i cannot1 therefore1 prove that my view of the good life is right2 ,i can only state my view1 and hope that as many as possible will agree4 ,my view is this3 ,the good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge4 ,knowledge and love are both indefinitely extensible2 therefore1 however good a life may be1 a better life can be imagined4 ,neither love without knowledge1 nor knowledge without love can produce a good life4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 when pestilence appeared in a country1 holy men advised the population to assemble in churches and pray for deliverance2 the result was that the infection spread with extraordinary rapidity among the crowded masses of supplicants4 ,this was an example of love without knowledge4 ,the late ,war afforded an example of knowledge without love4 ,in each case1 the result was death on a large scale4 ,although both love and knowledge are necessary1 love is in a sense more fundamental1 since it will lead intelligent people to seek knowledge1 in order to find out how to benefit those whom they love4 ,but if people are not intelligent1 they will be content to believe what they have been told1 and may do harm in spite of the most genuine benevolence4 ,medicine affords1 perhaps1 the best example of what ,i mean4 ,an able physician is more useful to a patient than the most devoted friend1 and progress in medical knowledge does more for the health of the community than ill-informed philanthropy4 ,nevertheless1 an element of benevolence is essential even here1 if any but the rich are to profit by scientific discoveries4 ,love is a word which covers a variety of feelings2 ,i have used it purposely1 as ,i wish to include them all4 ,love as an emotionwhich is what ,i am speaking about1 for love 8on principle0 does not seem to me genuinemoves between two poles3 on the one side1 pure delight in contemplation2 on the other1 pure benevolence4 ,where inanimate objects are concerned1 delight alone enters in3 we cannot feel benevolence towards a landscape or a sonata4 ,this type of enjoyment is presumably the source of art4 ,it is stronger1 as a rule1 in very young children than in adults1 who are apt to view objects in a utilitarian spirit4 ,it plays a large part in our feelings towards human beings1 some of whom have charm and some the reverse1 when considered simply as objects of aesthetic contemplation4 ,the opposite pole of love is pure benevolence4 ,men have sacrificed their lives to helping lepers in such a case1 the love they felt cannot have had any element of aesthetic delight4 ,parental affection1 as a rule1 is accompanied by pleasure in the child's appearance1 but remains strong when this element is wholly absent4 ,it would seem odd to call a mother's interest in a sick child 8benevolence10 because we are in the habit of using this word to describe a pale emotion nine parts humbug4 ,but it is difficult to find any other word to describe the desire for another person's welfare4 ,it is a fact that a desire of this sort may reach any degree of strength in the case of parental feeling4 ,in other cases it is far less intense2 indeed it would seem likely that all altruistic emotion is a sort of overflow of parental feeling1 or sometimes a sublimation of it4 ,for want of a better word1 ,i shall call this emotion 8benevolence40 ,but ,i want to make it clear that ,i am speaking of an emotion1 not a principle1 and that ,i do not include in it any feeling of superiority such as is sometimes associated with the word4 ,the word 8sympathy0 expresses part of what ,i mean1 but leaves out the element of activity that ,i wish to include4 ,love at its fullest is an indissoluble combination of the two elements1 delight and well-wishing4 ,the pleasure of a parent in a beautiful and successful child combines both elements2 so does sex-love at its best4 ,but in sex-love benevolence will only exist where there is secure possession1 since otherwise jealousy will destroy it1 while perhaps actually increasing the delight in contemplation4 ,delight without well-wishing may be cruel2 well-wishing without delight easily tends to become cold and a little superior4 ,a person who wishes to be loved wishes to be the object of a love containing both elements1 except in cases of extreme weakness1 such as infancy and severe illness4 ,in these cases benevolence may be all that is desired4 ,conversely1 in cases of extreme strength admiration is more desired than benevolence3 this is the state of mind of potentates and famous beauties4 ,we only desire other people's good wishes in proportion as we feel ourselves in need of help or in danger of harm from them4 ,at least1 that would seem to be the biological logic of the situation1 but it is not quite true to life4 ,we desire affection in order to escape from the feeling of loneliness1 in order to be1 as we say1 8understood40 ,this is a matter of sympathy1 not merely of benevolence2 the person whose affection is satisfactory to us must not merely wish us well1 but must know in what our happiness consists4 ,but this belongs to the other element of the good life1 namely knowledge4 ,in a perfect world1 every sentient being would be to every other the object of the fullest love1 compounded of delight1 benevolence1 and understanding inextricably blended4 ,it does not follow that1 in this actual world1 we ought to attempt to have such feelings towards all the sentient beings whom we encounter4 ,there are many in whom we cannot feel delight1 because they are disgusting2 if we were to do violence to our nature by trying to see beauties in them1 we should merely blunt our susceptibilities to what we naturally find beautiful4 ,not to mention human beings1 there are fleas and bugs and lice4 ,we should have to be as hard pressed as the ,ancient ,mariner before we could feel delight in contemplating these creatures4 ,some saints1 it is true1 have called them 8pearls of ,god10 but what these men delighted in was the opportunity of displaying their own sanctity4 ,benevolence is easier to extend widely1 but even benevolence has its limits4 ,if a man wished to marry a lady1 we should not think the better of him for withdrawing if he found that some one else also wished to marry her3 we should regard this as a fair field for competition4 ,yet his feelings towards a rival cannot be wholly benevolent4 ,i think that in all descriptions of the good life here on earth we must assume a certain basis of animal vitality and animal instinct2 without this1 life becomes tame and uninteresting4 ,civilization should be something added to this1 not substituted for it2 the ascetic saint and the detached sage fail in this respect to be complete human beings4 ,a small number of them may enrich a community2 but a world composed of them would die of boredom4 ,these considerations lead to a certain emphasis on the element of delight as an ingredient in the best love4 ,delight1 in this actual world1 is unavoidably selective1 and prevents us from having the same feelings towards all mankind4 ,when conflicts arise between delight and benevolence1 they must1 as a rule1 be decided by a compromise1 not by a complete surrender of either4 ,instinct has its rights1 and if we do violence to it beyond a point it takes vengeance in subtle ways4 ,therefore in aiming at a good life the limits of human possibility must be borne in mind4 ,here again1 however1 we are brought back to the necessity of knowledge4 ,when ,i speak of knowledge as an ingredient of the good life1 ,i am not thinking of ethical knowledge1 but of scientific knowledge and knowledge of particular facts4 ,i do not think there is1 strictly speaking1 such a thing as ethical knowledge4 ,if we desire to achieve some end1 knowledge may show us the means1 and this knowledge may loosely pass as ethical4 ,but ,i do not believe that we can decide what sort of conduct is right or wrong except by reference to its probable consequences4 ,given an end to be achieved1 it is a question for science to discover how to achieve it4 ,all moral rules must be tested by examining whether they tend to realize ends that we desire4 ,i say ends that we desire1 not ends that we ought to desire4 ,what we 8ought0 to desire is merely what someone else wishes us to desire4 ,usually it is what the authorities wish us to desireparents1 schoolmasters1 policemen1 and judges4 ,if you say to me 8you ought to do so-and-so10 the motive power of your remark lies in my desire for your approvaltogether1 possibly1 with rewards or punishments attached to your approval or disapproval4 ,since all behaviour springs from desire1 it is clear that ethical notions can have no importance except as they influenced desire4 ,they do this through the desire for approval and the fear of disapproval4 ,these are powerful social forces1 and we shall naturally endeavour to win them to our side if we wish to realize any social purpose4 ,when ,i say that the morality of conduct is to be judged by its probable consequences1 ,i mean that ,i desire to see approval given to behaviour likely to realize social purposes which we desire1 and disapproval to opposite behaviour4 ,at present this is not done2 there are certain traditional rules according to which approval and disapproval are meted out quite regardless of consequences4 ,but this is a topic with which we shall deal in the next chapter4 ,the superfluity of theoretical ethics is obvious in simple cases4 ,suppose1 for instance1 that your child is ill4 ,love makes you wish to cure it1 and science tells you how to do so4 ,there is not an intermediate stage of ethical theory1 where it is demonstrated that your child had better be cured4 ,your act springs directly from desire for an end1 together with knowledge of means4 ,this is equally true of all acts1 whether good or bad4 ,the ends differ1 and the knowledge is more adequate in some cases than in others4 ,but there is no conceivable way of making people do things they do not wish to do4 ,what is possible is to alter their desires by a system of rewards and penalties1 among which social approval and disapproval are not the least potent4 ,the question for the legislative moralist is1 therefore3 ,how shall this system of rewards and punishments be arranged so as to secure the maximum of what is desired by the legislative authority8 ,if ,i say that the legislative authority has bad desires1 ,i mean merely that its desires conflict with those of some section of the community to which ,i belong4 ,outside human desires there is no moral standard4 ,thus1 what distinguishes ethics from science is not any special kind of knowledge1 but merely desire4 ,the knowledge required in ethics is exactly like the knowledge elsewhere2 what is peculiar is that certain ends are desired1 and that right conduct is what conduces to them4 ,of course1 if the definition of right conduct is to make a wide appeal1 the ends must be such as large sections of mankind desire4 ,if ,i defined right conduct as that which increases my own income1 readers would disagree4 ,the whole effectiveness of any ethical argument lies in its scientific part1 i4 e4 in the proof that one kind of conduct1 rather than some other1 is a means to an end which is widely desired4 ,i distinguish1 however1 between ethical argument and ethical education4 ,the latter consists in strengthening certain desires and weakening others4 ,this is quite a different process1 which will be separately discussed at a later stage4 ,we can now explain more exactly the purport of the definition of the good life with which this chapter began4 ,when ,i said that the good life consists of love guided by knowledge1 the desire which prompted me was the desire to live such a life as far as possible1 and to see others living it2 and the logical content of the statement is that1 in a community where men live in this way1 more desires will be satisfied than in one where there is less love or less knowledge4 ,i do not mean that such a life is 8virtuous0 or that its opposite is 8sinful10 for these are conceptions which seem to me to have no scientific justification4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,moral ,,rules ,the practical need of morals arises from the conflict of desires1 whether of different people or of the same person at different times or even at one time4 ,a man desires to drink1 and also to be fit for his work next morning4 ,we think him immoral if he adopts the course which gives him the smaller total satisfaction of desire4 ,we think ill of people who are extravagant or reckless1 even if they injure no one but themselves4 ,bentham supposed that the whole of morality could be derived from 8enlightened self-interest10 and that a person who always acted with a view to his own maximum satisfaction in the long run would always act rightly4 ,i cannot accept this view4 ,tyrants have existed who derived exquisite pleasure from watching the infliction of torture2 ,i cannot praise such men when prudence led them to spare their victims' lives with a view to further sufferings another day4 ,nevertheless1 other things being equal1 prudence is a part of the good life4 ,even ,robinson ,crusoe had occasion to practise industry1 self-control1 and foresight1 which must be reckoned as moral qualities1 since they increased his total satisfaction without counterbalancing injury to others4 ,this part of morals plays a great part in the training of young children1 who have little inclination to think of the future4 ,if it were more practised in later life1 the world would quickly become a paradise1 since it would be quite sufficient to prevent wars1 which are acts of passion1 not of reason4 ,nevertheless1 in spite of the importance of prudence1 it is not the most interesting part of morals4 ,nor is it the part that raises intellectual problems1 since it does not require an appeal to anything beyond self-interest4 ,the part of morality that is not included in prudence is1 in essence1 analogous to law1 or the rules of a club4 ,it is a method of enabling men to live together in a community in spite of the possibility that their desires may conflict4 ,but here two very different methods are possible4 ,there is the method of the criminal law1 which aims at a merely external harmony by attaching disagreeable consequences to acts which thwart other men's desires in certain ways4 ,this is also the method of social censure3 to be thought ill of by one's own society is a form of punishment1 to avoid which most people avoid being known to transgress the code of their set4 ,but there is another method1 more fundamental1 and far more satisfactory when it succeeds4 ,this is to alter men's characters and desires in such a way as to minimize occasions of conflict by making the success of one man's desires as far as possible consistent with that of another's4 ,that is why love is better than hate1 because it brings harmony instead of conflict into the desires of the persons concerned4 ,two people between whom there is love succeed or fail together1 but when two people hate each other the success of either is the failure of the other4 ,if we were right in saying that the good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge1 it is clear that the moral code of any community is not ultimate and self-sufficient1 but must be examined with a view to seeing whether it is such as wisdom and benevolence would have decreed4 ,moral codes have not always been faultless4 ,the ,aztecs considered it their painful duty to eat human flesh for fear the light of the sun should grow dim4 ,they erred in their science2 and perhaps they would have perceived the scientific error if they had had any love for the sacrificial victims4 ,some tribes immerse girls in the dark from the age of ten to the age of seventeen1 for fear the sun's rays should render them pregnant4 ,but surely our modern codes of morals contain nothing analogous to these savage practices8 ,surely we only forbid things which really are harmful1 or at any rate so abominable that no decent person could defend them8 ,i am not so sure4 ,current morality is a curious blend of utilitarianism and superstition1 but the superstitious part has the stronger hold1 as is natural1 since superstition is the origin of moral rules4 ,originally1 certain acts were thought displeasing to the gods1 and were forbidden by law because the divine wrath was apt to descend upon the community1 not merely upon the guilty individuals4 ,hence arose the conception of sin1 as that which is displeasing to ,god4 ,no reason can be assigned as to why certain acts should be thus displeasing2 it would be very difficult to say1 for instance1 why it was displeasing that the kid should be seethed in its mother's milk4 ,but it was known by ,revelation that this was the case4 ,sometimes the ,divine commands have been curiously interpreted4 ,for example1 we are told not to work on ,saturdays1 and ,protestants take this to mean that we are not to play on ,sundays4 ,but the same sublime authority is attributed to the new prohibition as to the old4 ,it is evident that a man with a scientific outlook on life cannot let himself be intimidated by texts of ,scripture or by the teaching of the ,church4 ,he will not be content to say 8such-and-such an act is sinful1 and that ends the matter40 ,he will inquire whether it does any harm1 or whether1 on the contrary1 the belief that it is sinful does harm4 ,and he will find that1 especially in what concerns sex1 our current morality contains a very great deal of which the origin is purely superstitious4 ,he will find also that this superstition1 like that of the ,aztecs1 involves needless cruelty1 and would be swept away if people were actuated by kindly feelings towards their neighbours4 ,but the defenders of traditional morality are seldom people with warm hearts1 as may be seen from the love of militarism displayed by ,church dignitaries4 ,one is tempted to think that they value morals as affording a legitimate outlet for their desire to inflict pain3 the sinner is fair game1 and therefore away with tolerance6 ,let us follow an ordinary human life from conception to the grave1 and note the points where superstitious morals inflict preventable suffering4 ,i begin with conception1 because here the influence of superstition is particularly noteworthy4 ,if the parents are not married1 the child has a stigma1 as clearly undeserved as anything could be4 ,if either of the parents has venereal disease1 the child is likely to inherit it4 ,if they already have too many children for the family income1 there will be poverty1 underfeeding1 overcrowding1 very likely incest4 ,yet the great majority of moralists agree that the parents had better not know how to prevent this misery by preventing conception4 ,to please these moralists1 a life of torture is inflicted upon millions of human beings who ought never to have existed1 merely because it is supposed that sexual intercourse is wicked unless accompanied by desire for offspring1 but not wicked when this desire is present1 even though the offspring is humanly certain to be wretched4 ,to be killed suddenly and then eaten1 which was the fate of the ,aztecs' victims1 is a far less degree of suffering than is inflicted upon a child born in miserable surroundings and tainted with venereal disease4 ,yet it is the greater suffering which is deliberately inflicted by ,bishops and politicians in the name of morality4 ,if they had even the smallest spark of love or pity for children they could not adhere to a moral code involving this fiendish cruelty4 ,at birth1 and in early infancy1 the average child suffers more from economic causes than from superstition4 ,when well-to-do women have children1 they have the best doctors1 the best nurses1 the best diet1 the best rest1 and the best exercise4 ,working-class women do not enjoy these advantages1 and frequently their children die for lack of them4 ,a little is done by the public authorities in the way of care of mothers1 but very grudgingly4 ,at a moment when the supply of milk to nursing mothers is being cut down to save expense1 public authorities will spend vast sums on paving rich residential districts where there is little traffic4 ,they must know that in taking this decision they are condemning a certain number of working-class children to death for the crime of poverty4 ,yet the ruling party are supported by the immense majority of ministers of religion1 who1 with the ,pope at their head1 have pledged the vast forces of superstition throughout the world to the support of social injustice4 ,in all stages of education the influence of superstition is disastrous4 ,a certain percentage of children have the habit of thinking2 one of the aims of education is to cure them of this habit4 ,inconvenient questions are met with 8hush1 hush0 or with punishment4 ,collective emotion is used to instil certain kinds of belief1 more particularly nationalistic kinds4 ,capitalists1 militarists1 and ecclesiastics co-operate in education1 because all depend for their power upon the prevalence of emotionalism and the rarity of critical judgment4 ,with the aid of human nature1 education succeeds in increasing and intensifying these propensities of the average man4 ,another way in which superstition damages education is through its influence on the choice of teachers4 ,for economic reasons1 a woman-teacher must not be married2 for moral reasons1 she must not have extra-marital sexual relations4 ,and yet everybody who has taken the trouble to study morbid psychology knows that prolonged virginity is1 as a rule1 extraordinarily harmful to women1 so harmful that1 in a sane society1 it would be severely discouraged in teachers4 ,the restrictions imposed lead more and more to a refusal1 on the part of energetic and enterprising women1 to enter the teaching profession4 ,this is all due to the lingering influence of superstitious asceticism4 ,at middle- and upper-class schools the matter is even worse4 ,there are chapel services1 and the care of morals is in the hands of clergymen4 ,clergymen1 almost necessarily1 fail in two ways as teachers of morals4 ,they condemn acts which do no harm1 and they condone acts which do great harm4 ,they all condemn sexual relations between unmarried people who are fond of each other but not yet sure that they wish to live together all their lives4 ,most of them condemn birth-control4 ,none of them condemn the brutality of a husband who causes his wife to die of too frequent pregnancies4 ,i knew a fashionable clergyman whose wife had nine children in nine years4 ,the doctors told him that if she had another she would die4 ,next year she had another and died4 ,no one condemned him2 he retained his benefice1 and married again4 ,so long as clergymen continue to condone cruelty and condemn innocent pleasure1 they can only do harm as guardians of the morals of the young4 ,another bad effect of superstition on education is the absence of instruction about the facts of sex4 ,the main physiological facts ought to be taught1 quite simply and naturally1 before puberty1 at a time when they are not exciting4 ,at puberty1 the elements of an unsuperstitious sexual morality ought to be taught4 ,boys and girls should be taught that nothing can justify sexual intercourse unless there is mutual inclination4 ,this is contrary to the teaching of the ,church1 which holds that1 provided the parties are married and the man desires another child1 sexual intercourse is justified however great may be the reluctance of the wife4 ,boys and girls should be taught respect for each other's liberty2 they should be made to feel that nothing gives one human being rights over another1 and that jealousy and possessiveness kill love4 ,they should be taught that to bring another human being into the world is a very serious matter1 only to be undertaken when the child will have a reasonable prospect of health1 good surroundings1 and parental care4 ,but they should also be taught methods of birth-control1 so as to insure that children shall only come when they are wanted4 ,finally1 they should be taught the dangers of venereal disease1 and the methods of prevention and cure4 ,the increase of human happiness to be expected from sex-education on these lines is immeasurable4 ,it should be recognized that1 in the absence of children1 sexual relations are a purely private matter1 which does not concern either the ,state or the neighbours4 ,certain forms of sex which do not lead to children are at present punished by the criminal law3 this is purely superstitious1 since the matter is one which affects no one except the parties directly concerned4 ,where there are children1 it is a mistake to suppose that it is necessarily to their interest to make divorce very difficult4 ,habitual drunkenness1 cruelty1 insanity are grounds upon which divorce is necessary for the children's sake quite as much as for the sake of the wife or husband4 ,the peculiar importance attached1 at present1 to adultery is quite irrational4 ,it is obvious that many forms of misconduct are more fatal to married happiness than an occasional infidelity4 ,masculine insistence on a child a year1 which is not conventionally misconduct or cruelty1 is the most fatal of all4 ,moral rules ought not to be such as to make instinctive happiness impossible4 ,yet that is an effect of strict monogamy1 in a community where the numbers of the two sexes are very unequal4 ,of course1 under such circumstances1 the moral rules are infringed4 ,but when the rules are such that they can only be obeyed by greatly diminishing the happiness of the community1 and when it is better they should be infringed than observed1 surely it is time that the rules were changed4 ,if this is not done1 many people who are acting in a way not contrary to the public interest are faced with the undeserved alternative of hypocrisy or obloquy4 ,the ,church does not mind hypocrisy1 which is a flattering tribute to its power2 but elsewhere it has come to be recognized as an evil which we ought not lightly to inflict4 ,even more harmful than theological superstition is the superstition of nationalism1 of duty to one's own ,state and to no other4 ,but ,i do not propose on this occasion to discuss this matter1 beyond pointing out that limitation to one's compatriots is contrary to the principle of love which we recognized as constituting the good life4 ,it is also1 of course1 contrary to enlightened self-interest1 since an exclusive nationalism does not pay even the victorious nations4 ,one other respect in which our society suffers from the theological conception of 8sin0 is the treatment of criminals4 ,the view that criminals are 8wicked0 and 8deserve0 punishment is not one which a rational morality can support4 ,undoubtedly certain people do things which society wishes to prevent1 and does right in preventing as far as possible4 ,we may take murder as the plainest case4 ,obviously1 if a community is to hold together and we are to enjoy its pleasures and advantages1 we cannot allow people to kill each other whenever they feel an impulse to do so4 ,but this problem should be treated in a purely scientific spirit4 ,we should ask simply3 ,what is the best method of preventing murder8 ,of two methods which are equally effective in preventing murder1 the one involving least harm to the murderer is to be preferred4 ,the harm to the murderer is wholly regrettable1 like the pain of a surgical operation4 ,it may be equally necessary1 but it is not a subject of rejoicing4 ,the vindictive feeling called 8moral indignation0 is merely a form of cruelty4 ,suffering to the criminal can never be justified by the notion of vindictive punishment4 ,if education combined with kindness is equally effective1 it is to be preferred2 still more is it to be preferred if it is more effective4 ,of course the prevention of crime and the punishment of crime are two different questions2 the object of causing pain to the criminal is presumably deterrent4 ,if prisons were so humanized that a prisoner got a good education for nothing1 people might commit crimes in order to qualify for entrance4 ,no doubt prison must be less pleasant than freedom2 but the best way to secure this result is to make freedom more pleasant than it sometimes is at present4 ,i do not wish1 however1 to embark upon the subject of ,penal ,reform4 ,i merely wish to suggest that we should treat the criminal as we treat a man suffering from plague4 ,each is a public danger1 each must have his liberty curtailed until he has ceased to be a danger4 ,but the man suffering from plague is an object of sympathy and commiseration1 whereas the criminal is an object of execration4 ,this is quite irrational4 ,and it is because of this difference of attitude that our prisons are so much less successful in curing criminal tendencies than our hospitals are in curing disease4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,salvation3 ,,individual ,,and ,,social ,one of the defects of traditional religion is its individualism1 and this defect belongs also to the morality associated with it4 ,traditionally1 the religious life was1 as it were1 a duologue between the soul and ,god4 ,to obey the will of ,god was virtue2 and this was possible for the individual quite regardless of the state of the community4 ,protestant sects developed the idea of 8finding salvation01 but it was always present in ,christian teaching4 ,this individualism of the separate soul had its value at certain stages of history1 but in the modern world we need rather a social than an individual conception of welfare4 ,i want to consider1 in this chapter1 how this affects our conception of the good life4 ,christianity arose in the ,roman ,empire among populations wholly destitute of political power1 whose national ,states had been destroyed and merged in a vast impersonal aggregate4 ,during the first three centuries of the ,christian ,era1 the individuals who adopted ,christianity could not alter the social or political institutions under which they lived1 although they were profoundly convinced of their badness4 ,in these circumstances1 it was natural that they should adopt the belief that an individual may be perfect in an imperfect world1 and that the good life has nothing to do with this world4 ,what ,i mean may become plain by comparison with ,plato's ,republic4 ,when ,plato wanted to describe the good life1 he described a whole community1 not an individual2 he did so in order to define justice1 which is an essentially social conception4 ,he was accustomed to citizenship of a ,republic1 and political responsibility was something which he took for granted4 ,with the loss of ,greek freedom comes the rise of ,stoicism1 which is like ,christianity1 and unlike ,plato1 in having an individualistic conception of the good life4 ,we1 who belong to great democracies1 should find a more appropriate morality in free ,athens than in despotic ,imperial ,rome4 ,in ,india1 where the political circumstances are very similar to those of ,judea in the time of ,christ1 we find ,gandhi preaching a very similar morality to ,christ's1 and being punished for it by the christianized successors of ,pontius ,pilate4 ,but the more extreme ,indian nationalists are not content with individual salvation3 they want national salvation4 ,in this they have taken on the outlook of the free democracies of the ,west4 ,i want to suggest some respects in which this outlook1 owing to ,christian influences1 is not yet sufficiently bold and self-conscious1 but is still hampered by the belief in individual salvation4 ,the good life1 as we conceive it1 demands a multitude of social conditions1 and cannot be realized without them4 ,the good life1 we said1 is a life inspired by love and guided by knowledge4 ,the knowledge required can only exist where governments or millionaires devote themselves to its discovery and diffusion4 ,for example3 the spread of cancer is alarmingwhat are we to do about it8 ,at the moment1 no one can answer the question for lack of knowledge2 and the knowledge is not likely to emerge except through endowed research4 ,again3 knowledge of science1 history1 literature1 and art ought to be attainable by all who desire it2 this requires elaborate arrangements on the part of public authorities1 and is not to be achieved by means of religious conversion4 ,then there is foreign trade1 without which half the inhabitants of ,great ,britain would starve2 and if we were starving very few of us would live the good life4 ,it is needless to multiply examples4 ,the important point is that1 in all that differentiates between a good life and a bad one1 the world is a unity1 and the man who pretends to live independently is a conscious or unconscious parasite4 ,the idea of individual salvation1 with which the early ,christians consoled themselves for their political subjection1 becomes impossible as soon as we escape from a very narrow conception of the good life4 ,in the orthodox ,christian conception1 the good life is the virtuous life1 and virtue consists in obedience to the will of ,god1 and the will of ,god is revealed to each individual through the voice of conscience4 ,this whole conception is that of men subject to an alien despotism4 ,the good life involves much besides virtueintelligence1 for instance4 ,and conscience is a most fallacious guide1 since it consists of vague reminiscences of precepts heard in early youth1 so that it is never wiser than its possessor's nurse or mother4 ,to live a good life in the fullest sense a man must have a good education1 friends1 love1 children 7if he desires them71 a sufficient income to keep him from want and grave anxiety1 good health1 and work which is not uninteresting4 ,all these things1 in varying degrees1 depend upon the community1 and are helped or hindered by political events4 ,the good life must be lived in a good society1 and is not fully possible otherwise4 ,this is the fundamental defect of the aristocratic ideal4 ,certain good things1 such as art and science and friendship1 can flourish very well in an aristocratic society4 ,they existed in ,greece on a basis of slavery2 they exist among ourselves on a basis of exploitation4 ,but love1 in the form of sympathy or benevolence1 cannot exist freely in an aristocratic society4 ,the aristocrat has to persuade himself that the slave or proletarian or coloured man is of inferior clay1 and that his sufferings do not matter4 ,at the present moment1 polished ,english gentlemen flog ,africans so severely that they die after hours of unspeakable anguish4 ,even if these gentlemen are well-educated1 artistic1 and admirable conversationalists1 ,i cannot admit that they are living the good life4 ,human nature imposes some limitation of sympathy1 but not such a degree as that4 ,in a democratically-minded society1 only a maniac would behave in this way4 ,the limitation of sympathy involved in the aristocratic ideal is its condemnation4 ,salvation is an aristocratic ideal1 because it is individualistic4 ,for this reason1 also1 the idea of personal salvation1 however interpreted and expanded1 cannot serve for the definition of the good life4 ,another characteristic of salvation is that it results from a catastrophic change1 like the conversion of ,saint ,paul4 ,shelley's poems afford an illustration of this conception applied to societies2 the moment comes when everybody is converted1 the 8anarchs0 fly1 and 8the world's great age begins anew04 ,it may be said that a poet is an unimportant person1 whose ideas are of no consequence4 ,but ,i am persuaded that a large proportion of revolutionary leaders have had ideas extremely like ,shelley's4 ,they have thought that misery and cruelty and degradation were due to tyrants or priests or capitalists or ,germans1 and that if these sources of evil were overthrown there would be a general change of heart and we should all live happy ever after4 ,holding these beliefs1 they have been willing to wage a 8war to end war04 ,comparatively fortunate were those who suffered defeat or death2 those who had the misfortune to emerge victorious were reduced to cynicism and despair by the failure of all their glowing hopes4 ,the ultimate source of these hopes was the ,christian doctrine of catastrophic conversion as the road to salvation4 ,i do not wish to suggest that revolutions are never necessary1 but ,i do wish to suggest that they are not short cuts to the millennium4 ,there is no short cut to the good life1 whether individual or social4 ,to build up the good life1 we must build up intelligence1 self-control1 and sympathy4 ,this is a quantitative matter1 a matter of gradual improvement1 of early training1 of educational experiment4 ,only impatience prompts the belief in the possibility of sudden improvement4 ,the gradual improvement that is possible1 and the methods by which it may be achieved1 are a matter for future science4 ,but something can be said now4 ,some part of what can be said ,i shall try to indicate in a final chapter4 ,,chapter ,v ,,science ,,and ,,happiness ,the purpose of the moralist is to improve men's behaviour4 ,this is a laudable ambition1 since their behaviour is for the most part deplorable4 ,but ,i cannot praise the moralist either for the particular improvements he desires1 or for the methods he adopts for achieving them4 ,his ostensible method is moral exhortation2 his real method 7if he is orthodox7 is a system of economic rewards and punishments4 ,the former effects nothing permanent or important2 the influence of revivalists1 from ,savonarola downwards1 has always been very transitory4 ,the latterthe rewards and punishmentshave a very considerable effect4 ,they cause a man1 for example1 to prefer casual prostitutes to a quasi-permanent mistress1 because it is necessary to adopt the method which is most easily concealed4 ,they thus keep up the numbers of a very dangerous profession1 and secure the prevalence of venereal disease4 ,these are not the objects desired by the moralist1 and he is too unscientific to notice that they are the objects which he actually achieves4 ,is there anything better to be substituted for this unscientific mixture of preaching and bribery8 ,i think there is4 ,men's actions are harmful either from ignorance or from bad desires4 8,bad0 desires1 when we are speaking from a social point of view1 may be defined as those which tend to thwart the desires of others1 or1 more exactly1 those which thwart more desires than they assist4 ,it is not necessary to dwell upon the harmfulness that springs from ignorance2 here1 more knowledge is all that is wanted1 so that the road to improvement lies in more research and more education4 ,but the harmfulness that springs from bad desires is a more difficult matter4 ,in the ordinary man and woman there is a certain amount of active malevolence1 both special ill-will directed to particular enemies and general impersonal pleasure in the misfortunes of others4 ,it is customary to cover this over with fine phrases2 about half of conventional morality is a cloak for it4 ,but it must be faced if the moralists' aim of improving our actions is to be achieved4 ,it is shown in a thousand ways1 great and small3 in the glee with which people repeat and believe scandal1 in the unkind treatment of criminals in spite of clear proof that better treatment would have more effect in reforming them1 in the unbelievable barbarity with which all white races treat negroes1 and in the gusto with which old ladies and clergymen pointed out the duty of military service to young men during the ,war4 ,even children may be the objects of wanton cruelty3 ,david ,copperfield and ,oliver ,twist are by no means imaginary4 ,this active malevolence is the worst feature of human nature1 and the one which it is most necessary to change if the world is to grow happier4 ,probably this one cause has more to do with war than all the economic and political causes put together4 ,given this problem of preventing malevolence1 how shall we deal with it8 ,first let us try to understand its causes4 ,these are1 ,i think1 partly social1 partly physiological4 ,the world1 now as much as at any former time1 is based upon life-and-death competition2 the question at issue in the ,war was whether ,german or ,allied children should die of want and starvation4 7,apart from malevolence on both sides1 there was not the slightest reason why both should not survive74 ,most people have in the background of their minds a haunting fear of ruin2 this is especially true of people who have children4 ,the rich fear that ,bolsheviks will confiscate their investments2 the poor fear that they will lose their job or their health4 ,every one is engaged in the frantic pursuit of 8security01 and imagines that this is to be achieved by keeping potential enemies in subjection4 ,it is in moments of panic that cruelty becomes most wide-spread and most atrocious4 ,reactionaries everywhere appeal to fear3 in ,england1 to fear of ,bolshevism2 in ,france1 to fear of ,germany2 in ,germany1 to fear of ,france4 ,and the sole effect of their appeals is to increase the danger against which they wish to be protected4 ,it must1 therefore1 be one of the chief concerns of the scientific moralist to combat fear4 ,this can be done in two ways3 by increasing security1 and by cultivating courage4 ,i am speaking of fear as an irrational passion1 not of the rational prevision of possible misfortune4 ,when a theatre catches fire1 the rational man foresees disaster just as clearly as the man stricken with panic1 but he adopts methods likely to diminish the disaster1 whereas the man stricken with panic increases it4 ,europe since #aiad has been like a panic-stricken audience in a theatre on fire2 what is needed is calm1 authoritative directions as to how to escape without trampling each other to pieces in the process4 ,the ,victorian age1 for all its humbug1 was a period of rapid progress1 because men were dominated by hope rather than fear4 ,if we are again to have progress1 we must again be dominated by hope4 ,everything that increases the general security is likely to diminish cruelty4 ,this applies to prevention of war1 whether through the instrumentality of the ,league of ,nations1 or otherwise2 to prevention of destitution2 to better health by improvement in medicine1 hygiene1 and sanitation2 and to all other methods of lessening the terrors that lurk in the abysses of men's minds and emerge as nightmares when they sleep4 ,but nothing is accomplished by an attempt to make a portion of mankind secure at the expense of another portion,frenchmen at the expense of ,germans1 capitalists at the expense of wage-earners1 white men at the expense of yellow men1 and so on4 ,such methods only increase terror in the dominant group1 lest just resentment should lead the oppressed to rebel4 ,only justice can give security2 and by 8justice0 ,i mean the recognition of the equal claims of all human beings4 ,in addition to social changes designed to bring security1 there is1 however1 another and more direct means of diminishing fear1 namely by a regimen designed to increase courage4 ,owing to the importance of courage in battle1 men early discovered means of increasing it by education and dieteating human flesh1 for example1 was supposed to be useful4 ,but military courage was to be the prerogative of the ruling caste3 ,spartans were to have more than helots1 ,british officers than ,indian privates1 men than women1 and so on4 ,for centuries it was supposed to be the privilege of the aristocracy4 ,every increase of courage in the ruling caste was used to increase the burdens on the oppressed1 and therefore to increase the grounds for fear in the oppressors1 and therefore to leave the causes of cruelty undiminished4 ,courage must be democratized before it can make men humane4 ,to a great extent1 courage has already been democratized by recent events4 ,the suffragettes showed that they possessed as much courage as the bravest men2 this demonstration was essential in winning them the vote4 ,the common soldier in the ,war needed as much courage as a ,captain or ,lieutenant1 and much more than a ,general3 this had much to do with his lack of servility after demobilization4 ,the ,bolsheviks1 who proclaim themselves the champions of the proletariat1 are not lacking in courage1 whatever else may be said of them2 this is proved by their pre-revolutionary record4 ,in ,japan1 where formerly the samurai had a monopoly of martial ardour1 conscription brought the need of courage throughout the male population4 ,thus among all the ,great ,powers much has been done during the past half-century to make courage no longer an aristocratic monopoly3 if this were not the case1 the danger to democracy would be far greater than it is4 ,but courage in fighting is by no means the only form1 nor perhaps even the most important4 ,there is courage in facing poverty1 courage in facing derision1 courage in facing the hostility of one's own herd4 ,in these1 the bravest soldiers are often lamentably deficient4 ,and above all there is the courage to think calmly and rationally in the face of danger1 and to control the impulse of panic fear or panic rage4 ,these are certainly things which education can help to give4 ,and the teaching of every form of courage is rendered easier by good health1 good physique1 adequate nourishment1 and free play for fundamental vital impulses4 ,perhaps the physiological sources of courage could be discovered by comparing the blood of a cat with that of a rabbit4 ,in all likelihood there is no limit to what science could do in the way of increasing courage1 by example1 experience of danger1 an athletic life1 and a suitable diet4 ,all these things our upper-class boys to a great extent enjoy1 but as yet they are in the main the prerogative of wealth4 ,the courage so far encouraged in the poorer sections of the community is courage under orders1 not the kind that involves initiative and leadership4 ,when the qualities that now confer leadership have become universal1 there will no longer be leaders and followers1 and democracy will have been realized at last4 ,but fear is not the only source of malevolence2 envy and disappointment also have their share4 ,the envy of cripples and hunchbacks is proverbial as a source of malignity1 but other misfortunes than theirs produce similar results4 ,a man or woman who has been thwarted sexually is apt to be full of envy2 this generally takes the form of moral condemnation of the more fortunate4 ,much of the driving force of revolutionary movement is due to envy of the rich4 ,jealousy is1 of course1 a special form of envy3 envy of love4 ,the old often envy the young2 when they do1 they are apt to treat them cruelly4 ,there is1 so far as ,i know1 no way of dealing with envy except to make the lives of the envious happier and fuller1 and to encourage in youth the idea of collective enterprises rather than competition4 ,the worst forms of envy are in those who have not had a full life in the way of marriage1 or children1 or career4 ,such misfortunes could in most cases be avoided by better social institutions4 ,still1 it must be admitted that a residuum of envy is likely to remain4 ,there are many instances in history of ,generals so jealous of each other that they preferred defeat to enhancement of the other's reputation4 ,two politicians of the same party1 or two artists of the same school are almost sure to be jealous of one another4 ,in such cases1 there seems nothing to be done except to arrange1 as far as possible1 that each competitor shall be unable to injure the other1 and shall only be able to win by superior merit4 ,an artist's jealousy of a rival usually does little harm1 because the only effective way of indulging it is to paint better pictures than his rival's1 since it is not open to him to destroy his rival's pictures4 ,where envy is unavoidable1 it must be used as a stimulus to one's own efforts1 not to the thwarting of the efforts of rivals4 ,the possibilities of science in the way of increasing human happiness are not confined to diminishing those aspects of human nature which make for mutual defeat1 and which we therefore call 8bad04 ,there is probably no limit to what science can do in the way of increasing positive excellence4 ,health has already been greatly improved2 in spite of the lamentations of those who idealize the past1 we live longer and have fewer illnesses than any class or nation in the eighteenth century4 ,with a little more application of the knowledge we already possess1 we might be much healthier than we are4 ,and future discoveries are likely to accelerate this process enormously4 ,so far1 it has been physical science that has had most effect upon our lives1 but in the future physiology and psychology are likely to be far more potent4 ,when we have discovered how character depends upon physiological conditions1 we shall be able1 if we choose1 to produce far more of the type of human beings that we admire4 ,intelligence1 artistic capacity1 benevolenceall these things no doubt could be increased by science4 ,there seems scarcely any limit to what could be done in the way of producing a good world1 if only men would use science wisely4 ,i have expressed elsewhere my fears that men may not make a wise use of the power they derive from science4,b ,at present ,i am concerned with the good that men could do if they chose1 not with the question whether they will choose rather to do harm4 ,b ,see ,icarus4 ,there is a certain attitude about the application of science to human life with which ,i have some sympathy1 though ,i do not1 in the last analysis1 agree with it4 ,it is the attitude of those who dread what is 8unnatural40 ,rousseau is1 of course1 the great protagonist of this view in ,europe4 ,in ,asia1 ,lao-,tze has set it forth even more persuasively1 and #bdjj years sooner4 ,i think there is a mixture of truth and falsehood in the admiration of 8nature10 which it is important to disentangle4 ,to begin with1 what is 8natural08 ,roughly speaking1 anything to which the speaker was accustomed in childhood4 ,lao-,tze objects to roads and carriages and boats1 all of which were probably unknown in the village where he was born4 ,rousseau has got used to these things1 and does not regard them as against nature4 ,but he would no doubt have thundered against railways if he had lived to see them4 ,clothes and cooking are too ancient to be denounced by most of the apostles of nature1 though they all object to new fashions in either4 ,birth-control is thought wicked by people who tolerate celibacy1 because the former is a new violation of nature and the latter an ancient one4 ,in all these ways those who preach 8nature0 are inconsistent1 and one is tempted to regard them as mere conservatives4 ,nevertheless1 there is something to be said in their favour4 ,take for instance vitamines1 the discovery of which has produced a revulsion in favour of 8natural0 foods4 ,it seems1 however1 that vitamines can be supplied by cod-liver oil and electric light1 which are certainly not part of the 8natural0 diet of a human being4 ,this case illustrates that1 in the absence of knowledge1 unexpected harm may be done by a new departure from nature2 but when the harm has come to be understood it can usually be remedied by some new artificiality4 ,as regards our physical environment and our physical means of gratifying our desires1 ,i do not think the doctrine of 8nature0 justifies anything beyond a certain experimental caution in the adoption of new expedients4 ,clothes1 for instance1 are contrary to nature1 and need to be supplemented by another unnatural practice1 namely washing1 if they are not to bring disease4 ,but the two practices together make a man healthier than the savage who eschews both4 ,there is much more to be said for 8nature0 in the realm of human desires4 ,to force upon man1 woman1 or child a life which thwarts their strongest impulses is both cruel and dangerous in this sense1 a life according to 8nature0 is to be commended with certain provisos4 ,nothing could be more artificial than an underground electric railway1 but no violence is done to a child's nature when it is taken to travel in one2 on the contrary1 almost all children find the experience delightful4 ,artificialities which gratify the desires of ordinary human beings are good1 other things being equal4 ,but there is nothing to be said for ways of life which are artificial in the sense of being imposed by authority or economic necessity4 ,such ways of life are1 no doubt1 to some extent necessary at present2 ocean travel would become very difficult if there were no stokers on steamers4 ,but necessities of this kind are regrettable1 and we ought to look for ways of avoiding them4 ,a certain amount of work is not a thing to complain of2 indeed1 in nine cases out of ten1 it makes a man happier than complete idleness4 ,but the amount and kind of work that most people have to do at present is a grave evil3 especially bad is the life-long bondage to routine4 ,life should not be too closely regulated or too methodical2 our impulses1 when not positively destructive or injurious to others1 ought if possible to have free play2 there should be room for adventure4 ,human nature we should respect1 because our impulses and desires are the stuff out of which our happiness is to be made4 ,it is no use to give men something abstractly considered 8good02 we must give them something desired or needed if we are to add to their happiness4 ,science may learn in time to mould our desires so that they shall not conflict with those of other people to the same extent as they do now2 then we shall be able to satisfy a larger proportion of our desires than at present4 ,in that sense1 but in that sense only1 our desires will then have become 8better40 ,a single desire is no better and no worse1 considered in isolation1 than any other2 but a group of desires is better than another group if all of the first group can be satisfied simultaneously while in the second group some are inconsistent with others4 ,that is why love is better than hatred4 ,to respect physical nature is foolish2 physical nature should be studied with a view to making it serve human ends as far as possible1 but it remains ethically neither good nor bad4 ,and where physical nature and human nature interact1 as in the population question1 there is no need to fold our hands in passive adoration and accept war1 pestilence1 and famine as the only possible means of dealing with excessive fertility4 ,the divines say3 it is wicked1 in this matter1 to apply science to the physical side of the problem2 we must 7they say7 apply morals to the human side1 and practise abstinence4 ,apart from the fact that every one1 including the divines1 knows that their advice will not be taken1 why should it be wicked to solve the population question by adopting physical means for preventing conception8 ,no answer is forthcoming except one based upon antiquated dogmas4 ,and clearly the violence to nature advocated by the divines is at least as great as that involved in birth-control4 ,the divines prefer a violence to human nature which1 when successfully practised1 involves unhappiness1 envy1 a tendency to persecution1 often madness4 ,i prefer a 8violence0 to physical nature which is of the same sort as that involved in the steam engine or even in the use of fire4 ,this instance shows how ambiguous and uncertain is the application of the principle that we should follow 8nature40 ,nature1 even human nature1 will cease more and more to be an absolute datum2 more and more it will become what scientific manipulation has made it4 ,science can1 if it chooses1 enable our grandchildren to live the good life1 by giving them knowledge1 self-control1 and characters productive of harmony rather than strife4 ,at present it is teaching our children to kill each other1 because many men of science are willing to sacrifice the future of mankind to their own momentary prosperity4 ,but this phase will pass when men have acquired the same domination over their own passions that they already have over the physical forces of the external world4 ,then at last we shall have won our freedom4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,text in italics is enclosed by underscores 7italics74 ,obvious spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected4 ,archaic and variable spelling and punctuation have been preserved4 ,variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved4