Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/396

 382 HENRY STURT : barrassing questions arise, "Where does this moral sense come from ? and Why should the individual listen to it '? Thus we see it is perfectly consistent that among thinkers who have a tendency to subjective idealism in metaphysics there should be equally a tendency to eudaemonism in morals. Their argument is plain. Granted that a man is shut up within the circle of his own impressions and ideas, that is no reason why he should not try to make himself as happy as possible. In fact his loneliness is the strongest reason for a purely self-regarding line of conduct. He has no one to consult or consider but himself. 5 23. One cause of the present popularity of a form of eudsemonism akin to Aristotle is matter of hearty con- gratulation. The end of the century has been notable in this country for a remarkable and beneficent growth of the civic spirit, a recognition of national and social unity, a keen- ness to take a share of civic duties and privileges, both in the wider spheres of the Empire and the nation, and in the narrower spheres of the town and neighbourhood. Xow this is like the spirit which we find in the great thinkers of Greece one of the most valuable lessons they have to teach us. The Republic and Ethics are penetrated with the con- viction that the state should be organically one. The eudaemonia which they describe and teach men how to attain is emphatically civic. There being so much kindred between their spirit and that of the best men of our day, it is no wonder that modern moralists have so largely adopted classical forms. After presupposing that morality is the pursuit of a good, they argue that this good is realised by man's performing his function, his epyov, which they there- upon identify with his civic duty. In other words man must " realise the social self ". The content of this moral system is noble ; but it is totally inconsistent with the eudaemonistic presuppositions at its base. It is a well-meaning attempt to pour the new wine of modern civic devotion into the old bottles of Hellenic ethical formulae. !; 24. Lastly, though here, to be sure, we have a very subsidiary cause of acceptance, some forms of the Sumniuni Bonum doctrine make a vast claim on the imagination. " Ethics is the science of the ultimate end or ideal of human life " how impressive such phrases sound to an unpractised ear They suggest mankind striving, blindly, confusedly it may be, but still striving towards a master-end a supreme blessedness which gives each separate act its value, and life as a whole its consistent meaning. And the moralist is the sage who comes down and makes that striving clear-sighted.