Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/20

 that they acquire. In a simple and primitive community the good of every action can readily be explained. The South Sea Islander knows what is the good of fishing. It is to satisfy his hunger. He knows what is the good of climbing for milk-cocoa-nuts. It is to quench his thirst. He knows what is the good of sacrificing to the gods. It is that they may send rain, or protect him from his enemies. He knows what is the good of everything he does. All his actions have reference to human life. All his activities are directed to the preservation of his own life and those of his tribe. The good of his actions is their value-for-life.

It is easy for the savage to see what is the good of his actions, because his ends are limited and his aims are narrow. Almost all his actions are dictated by some primitive impulse or by a desire to obtain some fragmentary end. But in a complex civilisation, such as our own, the ends that men set before themselves may be very comprehensive and very remote; and it is often extremely difficult to see the value of the actions they perform and the knowledge they acquire. Yet ultimately it will be found that all the aims of man, whether in the complicated society of a high civilisation, or in a primitive community of savages, have value only in relation to life. This is the ultimate good of all man's material and spiritual achievements, of all that he does and knows. The good of a thing is its value-for-life.

In many cases it may not be easy to see precisely what value-for-life a certain action possesses. What is the value-for-life of the discovery of the South