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

336
ETHICS
Not being tied to an egoistic psychology, Adam Smith is
enabled to do justice to what would be normally called
the altruistic sentiments. His account gives full weight to
the pain which we feel for others' distress, and the pleasure
which we take in alleviating it, without making the mistake
of supposing that the removal of our pain, the promotion of
our pleasure, constitute the sole motive for action taken
to relieve distress. The mistake consists precisely in a
failure to see that, since an initial concern for the welfare
of other people is a condition of my sympathetic pleasure
in the alleviation of their distress, such interest cannot
itself be dependent upon or conditioned by my pleasure.
If, therefore, we are to admit that sympathy can constitute
a genuine motive for action, we must also agree that it
is possible for the agent to feel an interest in something
other than his own states of consciousness. If he can feel
an interest in something other, then it is not the case, as
Mill's position A asserts, that he can only desire his own
pleasure.
Mill on Social Good. Mill vainly tries to escape
from this difficulty.
The principle of utility which he maintains we ought
to follow as our guide to conduct, aims at producing the
greatest happiness of the greatest number; if the happiness
of the individual conflicts with this principle, the individual
must go to the wall. "In the golden rule of Jesus of
Nazareth," he writes, "we read the complete spirit of the
ethics of utility. To do as you would be done by, and to
love your neighbour as yourself,
constitute the ideal
perfection of utilitarian morality." It is right, therefore,
to promote the happiness of others. But how can this be,
ifone is so constituted that one can only desire the happiness
of oneself?
Let us suppose that A can, by doing an action P, produce
an amount of happiness X for himself, and an amount of
happiness Y for three other people. Let us suppose that by
doing another action Q, he can produce an amount of