CHAPTER III.
SOCIOLOGY AS THE FOUNDATION OF MORALITY.
The positive theory is that the health of the social organism is the real foundation of morals 49 But social health is nothing but the personal health of all the members of the society 51 It is not happiness itself, but the negative conditions that make happiness for all 51 Still less is social health any _high_ kind of happiness 54 It can only be maintained to be so, by supposing 55 Either, that all kinds of happiness are equally _high_ that do not interfere with others 55 Or, that it is only a _high_ kind of happiness that can be shared by all 56 Both of which suppositions are false 57 The conditions of social health are a moral end only when we each feel a personal delight in maintaining them 58 In this case they will supply us with a _small portion_ of the moral aid needed 59 But this case is not a possible one 60 There is indeed the natural impulse of sympathy that might tend to make it so 61 But this is counterbalanced by the corresponding impulse of selfishness 63 And this impulse of sympathy itself is of very limited power 63 Except under very rare conditions 63 The conditions of general happiness are far too vague to do more than very slightly excite it 64 Or give it power enough to neutralise any personal temptation 66 At all events they would excite no enthusiasm 67 For this purpose there must be some prize before us, of recognised positive value, more or less definite 67 And before all things, to be enjoyed by us individually 67 Unless this prize be of great value to begin with, its value will not become great because great numbers obtain it 71 Nor until we know what it is, do we gain anything by the hope that men may more completely make it their own in the future 72 The modern positive school requires a great general enthusiasm for the general good 73 They therefore presuppose an extreme value for the individual good 74 Our first enquiry must be therefore what the higher individual good is 76.