第70章

IftheviewmaintainedintheprecedingchapterastothegeneralUtilitarianbasisoftheMoralityofCommonSensemayberegardedassufficientlyestablished，wearenowinapositiontoconsidermorecloselytowhatmethodofdeterminingrightconducttheacceptanceofUtilitarianismwillpracticallylead。Themostobviousmethod，ofcourse，isthatofEmpiricalHedonism，discussedinBookii。chap。iii。；accordingtowhichwehaveineachcasetocompareallthepleasuresandpainsthatcanbeforeseenasprobableresultsofthedifferentalternativesofconductpresentedtous，andtoadoptthealternativewhichseemslikelytoleadtothegreatesthappinessonthewhole。

InBookii。，however，itappearedthateventhemorerestrictedapplicationofthismethod，whichwetherehadtoconsider，wasinvolvedinmuchperplexityanduncertainty。Evenwhenanindividualisonlyoccupiedinforecastinghisownpleasures，itseemsdifficultorimpossibleforhimtoavoiderrorsofconsiderablemagnitude；

whetherinaccuratelycomparingthepleasantnessofhisownpastfeelings，asrepresentedinmemory，orinappropriatingtheexperienceofothers，orinarguingfromthepasttothefuture。Andthesedifficultiesareobviouslymuchincreasedwhenwehavetotakeintoaccountalltheeffectsofouractionsonallthesentientbeingswhomaybeaffectedbythem。Atthesametime，inBookii。wecouldnotfindanysatisfactorysubstituteforthismethodofempiricalcomparison。Itdidnotappearreasonabletotakerefugeintheuncriticisedbeliefsofmeningeneralastothesourcesofhappiness:indeed，itseemedimpossibletoextractanyadequatelyclearanddefiniteconsensusofopinionfromtheconfusedandvaryingutterancesofCommonsenseonthissubject。Noragaincoulditbeshownthattheindividualwouldbemorelikelytoattainthegreatesthappinessopentohimbypracticallyconfininghiseffortstotherealisationofanyscientificallyascertainablephysicalorpsychicalconditionsofhappiness:nordiditseempossibletoinferonempiricalgroundsthatthedesiredresultwouldbesecuredbyconformitytotheacceptedprinciplesofmorality。Butwhenweconsidertheselatterinrelation，nottothehappinessoftheindividual，buttothatofhuman(orsentient)beingsgenerally，itisclearfromtheprecedingchapterthatthequestionofharmonybetweenHedonismandIntuitionismpresentsprimafacieanentirelydifferentaspect。IndeedfromtheconsiderationsthatwehavejustsurveyeditisbutashortandeasysteptotheconclusionthatintheMoralityofCommonSensewehavereadytohandabodyofUtilitariandoctrine；thatthe``rulesofmoralityforthemultitude’’aretoberegardedas``positivebeliefsofmankindastotheeffectsofactionsontheirhappiness’’，[1]sothattheapparentfirstprinciplesofCommonSensemaybeacceptedasthe``middleaxioms’’ofUtilitarianmethod；directreferencebeingonlymadetoutilitarianconsiderations，inordertosettlepointsuponwhichtheverdictofCommonSenseisfoundtobeobscureandconflicting。OnthisviewthetraditionalcontroversybetweentheadvocatesofVirtueandtheadvocatesofHappinesswouldseemtobeatlengthharmoniouslysettled。

Andtheargumentsforthisviewwhichhavebeenalreadyputforwardcertainlyreceivesupportfromthehypothesis，nowwidelyaccepted，thatthemoralsentimentsareultimatelyderived，byacomplexandgradualprocess，fromexperiencesofpleasureandpain。Thehypothesis，inasummaryform，wouldseemtobethis；(1)

intheexperienceofeachmemberofthehumancommunitythepainoralarmcausedtohimbyactionsofhimselfandofotherstendsbyassociationtoexciteinhimadislikeofsuchactions，andasimilarthoughfeeblereffectisproducedbyhisperceptionofpainordangercausedtootherswithwhomheisconnectedbyblood，orbycommunityofinterest，oranyspecialtieofsympathy:(2)experiencealsotendsmoreindirectlytoproduceinhimsentimentsrestraininghimfromactionspainfuloralarmingtoothers，throughhisdreadoftheirresentmentanditsconsequences，——especiallydreadofhischief’sanger，and，wherereligiousinfluencehasbecomestrong，oftheangerofsupernaturalbeings:(3)withtheselatterfeelingsblendsasympatheticaversiontothepainofothermengenerally，which——atfirstcomparativelyfeeble——tendstogrowinforceasmoralitydevelops。Inthesamewayexperiencesofpleasureandgratitude，anddesireofthegoodwillofothersanditsconsequences，tendtoproducelikingforactionsthatareperceivedtocausepleasuretoselfortoothers。Thesimilaraversionsandlikingsthatarethusproducedinthemajorityofthemembersofanysociety，throughthegeneralsimilarityoftheirnaturesandconditions，tendtobecomemoresimilarthroughcommunicationandimitation，——thedesireofeachtoretainthegoodwillofothersoperatingtorepressindividualdivergencies。Thuscommonlikingsforconductthataffectspleasurablythecommunitygenerallyorsomepartofit，andcommondislikesforconductcausingpainandalarm，cometobegraduallydeveloped；theyaretransmittedfromgenerationtogene