下载辰思小说免费APP
IfMill’sdoctrineleadstoanimpossiblestrictnessinonedirection，itleadstolessedifyingresultsinanother。Wehaveomitted’motive’andcometothecriticalquestion，How，afterall，isthemoralcodetobeenforced?Byoverlookingthisquestionanddeclaring’motive’tobeirrelevant，wegettheparadoxalreadyacceptedbyBentham。Hisdefinitionofvirtueisactionforthegoodofothersaswellasofourselves。Inwhatwayistheexistenceofsuchactiontobereconciledwiththisdoctrine?Whatarethemotiveswhichmakemencountthehappinessofotherstobeequallyvaluablewiththeirown?or，intheUtilitarianlanguage，Whatisthe’sanction’ofmorality?AfterallBentham’sinsistenceuponthe’self-preferenceprinciple’andMill’saccountofselfishnessinhispoliticaltheory，wearesuddenlytoldthatmoralitymeansaloftyandrigidcodeinwhichthehappinessofallistheoneend。HereagainMillisentangledbythecharacteristicdifficultyofhispsychology。Toanalyseistodivideobjectsintoseparateunits。Whenhehastodowithcomplexobjectsandrelationsapparentlyreciprocal，heisforcedtorepresentthembyasimplesequence。Thetwofactorsarenotmutuallydependentbutdistinctthingssomehowconnectedintime。Oneresultishisaccountof’ends’or’motives’(thetwo，asheobserves，aresynonymous)。142Theendissomethingtobegainedbytheact，the’association’ofwhichwiththeactconstitutesa’desire。’This，wehaveseen，alwaysreferstothefuture。143Inacting，then，Iamalwaysguidedbycalculationsoffuturepleasuresorpains。IbelievethistobeoneofthemostunfortunatebecauseoneofthemostplausibleofUtilitarianfallacies。Ifwearedeterminedbypainsandpleasures，itisinonesenseascontradictorytospeakofourbeingdeterminedbyfuturepainsandpleasuresastospeakofourbeingnourishedto-daybyto-morrow’sdinner。The’futurepleasure’doesnotexist；theanticipatedpleasureactsbymakingthepresentactionpleasant；
andwethenmove(asitissaid)alongthelineofleastresistance。Certainconductisintrinsicallypleasurableorpainful，andthefuturepleasureonlyactsthroughthepresentforetaste。When，however，weregardthepleasureasfutureandassomehowaseparablething，wecanonlyexpresstheseundeniablefactsbyacceptingapurelyegoisticconclusion。Weare，ofcourse，movedbyourownfeelings，aswebreathewithourownlungsanddigestwithourownstomachs。Butwhenweacceptthedoctrineof’ends’thisharmlessandself-evidenttruthispervertedintothestatementthatour’end’mustbeourownpleasure；thatwecannotbereallyordirectlyunselfish。Theanalysis，indeed，issodefectivethatitcanhardlybeappliedintelligibly。
Humeobservesthatnomanwouldresthisfootindifferentlyuponastooloragoutytoe。Theactionitselfofgivingpainwouldbepainful，andcannotbeplausiblyresolvedintoananticipationofan’end。’This，again，isconspicuouslytrueofallthetrulysocialemotions。Notonlytheconscience，butthesenseofshameorhonour，orprideandvanityactpowerfullyandinstantaneouslyaspresentmotiveswithoutnecessaryreferencetoanyfutureresults。TheknowledgethatIamgivingpainorcausingfuturepainisintrinsicallyandimmediatelypainfultothenormalhumanbeing，andthesupposed’analysis’isthroughoutafiction。Mill，however，likeBentham，takesitforgranted，butperceivesmoreclearlythanBenthamthedifficultytowhichitleads。How，fromatheoryofpureselfishness，arewetogetamoralityofgeneralbene
