They ignore the fact that they are doing, on the whole, more
harm than good to others, because the smaller group that is apparently
benefited looms larger to the eye than the more widely distributed
and less directly affected sufferers.
All of our most vexing moral problems are those in which benefit to
some must be weighed against benefit to others. Shall a man who is
needed by his family risk his life to save a ne'er-do-well? Shall we
insist that people unhappily married shall endure their wretchedness
and forego the possibility of a happier union in order that
heedlessness and license may not be encouraged in the lives of others?
Life is full of such two- sided problems; it is not enough that an
act may bring good to some, it must be the act that brings most good
to most.
(2) An apparently altruistic act, dictated by sympathy, and productive
of happiness, may not be for the ultimate good of the very person made
happy. To give everything they want to children is inevitably to
"spoil" them, as we rightly say; to spoil their own happiness in the
long run as well as their usefulness to others. To condone another's
sin and save him the unpleasantness of rebuke or the inflicting of
a penalty is often the worst thing that could be done to him. To give
alms to a beggar may mean to assist his moral degeneration and in the
long run increase his misery.
(3) Even when an act superficially egoistic conflicts with one that
seems altruistic, the greatest good of the community often dictates
the former.
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