第58章

Onesuchprinciplewasgiveninchap。i。§；3

ofthisBook；whereIpointedoutthatwhateveractionanyofusjudgestoberightforhimself，heimplicitlyjudgestoberightforallsimilarpersonsinsimilarcircumstances。Or，aswemayotherwiseputit，`ifakindofconductthatisright(orwrong)formeisnotright(orwrong)

forsomeoneelse，itmustbeonthegroundofsomedifferencebetweenthetwocases，otherthanthefactthatIandhearedifferentpersons。’

Acorrespondingpropositionmaybestatedwithequaltruthinrespectofwhatoughttobedoneto——notby——differentindividuals。

Theseprincipleshavebeenmostwidelyrecognised，notintheirmostabstractanduniversalform，butintheirspecialapplicationtothesituationoftwo(ormore)individualssimilarlyrelatedtoeachother:assoapplied，theyappearinwhatispopularlyknownastheGoldenRule，`Dotoothersasyouwouldhavethemdotoyou。’Thisformulaisobviouslyunpreciseinstatement；foronemightwishforanother’sco-operationinsin，andbewillingtoreciprocateit。Norisiteventruetosaythatweoughttodotoothersonlywhatwethinkitrightforthemtodotous；fornoonewilldenythattheremaybedifferencesinthecircumstances——andeveninthenatures——oftwoindividuals，AandB，whichwouldmakeitwrongforAtotreatBinthewayinwhichitisrightforBtotreatA。

Inshorttheself-evidentprinciplestrictlystatedmusttakesomesuchnegativeformasthis；`itcannotberightforAtotreatBinamannerinwhichitwouldbewrongforBtotreatA，merelyonthegroundthattheyaretwodifferentindividuals，andwithouttherebeinganydifferencebetweenthenaturesorcircumstancesofthetwowhichcanbestatedasareasonablegroundfordifferenceoftreatment。’Suchaprinciplemanifestlydoesnotgivecompleteguidance——indeeditseffect，strictlyspeaking，ismerelytothrowadefiniteonusprobandionthemanwhoappliestoanotheratreatmentofwhichhe，wouldcomplainifappliedtohimself；

butCommonSensehasamplyrecognisedthepracticalimportanceofthemaxim:

anditstruth，sofarasitgoes，appearstomeself-evident。

AsomewhatdifferentapplicationofthesamefundamentalprinciplethatindividualsinsimilarconditionsshouldbetreatedsimilarlyfindsitssphereintheordinaryadministrationofLaw，or(aswesay)

of`Justice’。Accordinglyin§；1ofchap。v。ofthisBookIdrewattentionto`impartialityintheapplicationofgeneralrules’，asanimportantelementinthecommonnotionofJustice；indeed，thereultimatelyappearedtobenootherelementwhichcouldbeintuitivelyknownwithperfectclearnessandcertainty。Hereagainitmustbeplainthatthispreceptofimpartialityisinsufficientforthecompletedeterminationofjustconduct，asitdoesnothelpustodecidewhatkindofrulesshouldbethusimpartiallyapplied；

thoughalladmittheimportanceofexcludingfromgovernment，andhumanconductgenerally，allconsciouspartialityand`respectofpersons’。

Theprinciplejustdiscussed，whichseemstobemoreorlessclearlyimpliedinthecommonnotionof`fairness’or`equity’，isobtainedbyconsideringthesimilarityoftheindividualsthatmakeupaLogicalWholeorGenus。Thereareothers，nolessimportant，whichemergeintheconsiderationofthesimilarpartsofaMathematicalorQuantitativeWhole。SuchaWholeispresentedinthecommonnotionoftheGood——or，asissometimessaid，`goodonthewhole’——ofanyindividualhumanbeing。Theproposition`thatoneoughttoaimatone’sowngood’issometimesgivenasthemaximofRationalSelf-loveorPrudence:

butassostateditdoesnotclearlyavoidtautology；sincewemaydefine`good’as`whatoneoughttoaimat’。If，however，wesay’one’sgoodonthewhole’，theadditionsuggestsaprinciplewhich，whenexplicitlystated，is，atanyrate，nottautological。Ihavealreadyreferredtothisprincipleasthat`ofimpartialconcernforallpartsofourconsciouslife’:——wemightexpressitconciselybysaying`thatHereafterassuchistoberegardedneitherlessnormorethanNow’。Itisnot，ofcourse，meantthatthegoodofthepresentmaynotreasonablybepreferredtothatofthefutureonaccountofitsgreatercertainty:oragain，thataweektenyearshencemaynotbemoreimportanttousthanaweeknow，throughanincreaseinourmeansorcapacitiesofhappiness。Allthattheprincipleaffirmsisthatthemeredifferenceofpriorityandp