If psychology can contribute nothing to the
point, it confesses to a desideratum for future inquirers.
[HEDONICS SEPARATE FROM ETHICS.]
I am not at all satisfied with the coupling of happiness with ethics, as
is usually done. Ethics is the sphere of duty; happiness is mentioned
only to be repressed and discouraged. This is not the situation for
unfolding all the blossoms of human delight, nor for studying to allay
every rising uneasiness. He would be a rare ethical philosopher that
would permit full scope to such an operation within his grounds; neither
Epicurus nor Bentham could come up to this mark. But even if the thing
were permitted, the lights are not there; it is only by combining the
parent psychology and the hedonic derivative, that the work can be done.
It is neither disrespect nor disadvantage to duty, that it is not
mentioned in the department until the very end. To cultivate happiness
is not selfishness or vice, unless you confine it to self; and the mere
act of inquiring does not so confine it. If you are in other respects a
selfish man, you will apply your knowledge for your own sole behoof; if
you are not selfish, you will apply it for the good of your fellows
also, which is another name for virtue.
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