Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/81

III] "But, even in giving away superfluous wealth, he may be denying himself the miser's pleasure in hoarding?"

"I grant you that, gladly," said Arthur. "Given that he has that morbid craving, he is doing a good deed in restraining it."

"But, even In spending on himself," I persisted, "our typical rich man often does good, by employing people who would otherwise be out of work: and that is often better than pauperising them by giving the money."

"I'm glad you've said that!" said Arthur. "I would not like to quit the subject without exposing the two fallacies of that statement——which have gone so long uncontradicted that Society now accepts it as an axiom!"

"What are they?" I said. "I don't even see one, myself"

"One is merely the fallacy of ambiguity——the assumption that doing good (that is, benefiting somebody) is necessarily a good thing to do (that is, a right thing). The other is the assumption that, if one of two specified acts is better than another, it is necessarily a good act in itself. I should like to call this the