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

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function subserves, or why, " if one cares to put it in this
way, "is it 'good* to perform one's function?" Spencer
answers that it is "good" to perform one's function, only in
so far as such performance is a source of pleasure or satis-
faction. For Spencer the only end which a rational being
can propose to himself is that of a surplus of pleasure over
pain. This end becomes progressively more desirable as
the surplus grows, and if a condition could be reached in
which pain had vanished absolutely, it would become an
absolute end. So far, Spencer's principles diverge very
little from the familiar tenets of Subjectivism and Hedonism.
Good is identified with the right performance of function;
the right performance of function is pleasant, and pleasure
is the end of man. Spencer's distinctive contribution
consists in the answers which he gives to such questions
as " Why pleasure is good, what sort of conduct is likely
to produce it for us, and why does it do so."
It is by virtue of this contribution that his ethics is
usually entitled scientific. The introduction of science is
effected as follows. It is not enough, says Spencer, that the
ethical philosopher should point out that some things are
pleasant and that these things are good. He must also
demonstrate why it is that they are good; it is in order
to effect the demonstration, that Spencer has recourse to
the theory of evolution.
His Introduction of Evolutionary Concepts into Ethics.
The nature of any organism is, he holds, determined by
its character as an evolutionary product. As such it will
inevitably tend to preserve and develop itself and to beget
offspring, which will continue the species to which it
belongs. Such evolutionary operations are pleasureproducing.
If they were not, we should have no inducement
to perform them; for a man, as Spencer is careful
to point out, would not struggle to maintain an existence
whose pains exceeded its pleasures. Pleasure, then, invests
any vitality-promoting, evolution-furthering form of
behaviour, while pain is a sign of the maladjustment of the