GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

l88 ETHICS
owned by me, that they i^e, in other words, my impulses,
does not entitle me to draw the conclusion that they all
have for their object some change in my condition; some
do and some do not It is precisely this conclusion that is
falsely drawn by Egoism.
The second confasion arises from the fact that the
satisfaction of any of my impulses gives pleasure, and that
the pleasure is my pleasure. Now this is true both of those
impulses that have for their object some change in me,
and of those that have for their object some change in
other people or in things. If, for example, I am moved
by the impulse of hunger or of lust, pleasure attends the
satisfaction of my impulse and the pleasure in question
is the ultimate object of my impulse. But if I am moved
by sympathy or malice, while it is still true that pleasure
attends the satisfaction of the impulse that moves me,
. The
the attainment of this pleasure is not its object. The object
of sympathy is, as we have seen, the relief of another's
distress, of malice the production of another's misery. It
is admitted that the satisfaction of these impulses brings
pleasure to their owner, but to say that the enjoyment of
this pleasure is his object in satisfying the impulse is to
put the cart before the horse; for the pleasure cannot, it
is obvious, occur unless the impulse is satisfied, and the
satisfaction of the impulse depends on the achievement
of its object. Where impulses such as those of sympathy
and malice are concerned, the object of the impulse is
ex hjpotfosi something other than and prior to the pleasure
which is dependent on the achievement of the object.
Fallacy of Egoism. The mistake which Egoism
makes is, then, in Butler's view, to confuse the pleasure
which attends the gratification of the impulse with the
object upon the attainment of which the pleasure depends.
Butler might have added that there are many impulses,
such as the impulse to sing in one's bath, or to step out
briskly on a frosty morning, or even to swear when annoyed,
which, as I have already suggested, proceed from no