Except for this removable danger, the development
of sympathy and tenderness by no means involves a lessening of virility,
but is rather its necessary complement and check.
Is self-development or self-realization the ultimate end?
It is no justification of morality to say that it is "in harmony with
nature." Is it an adequate justification to say that morality is what
makes for self-development or self-realization? A number of classic
and contemporary moralists, fighting shy of the acknowledgment of
happiness as the ultimate end, have rested content with such expressions.
Darwin wrote, "The term 'general good' may be defined as the rearing
of the greatest number of individuals in full vigor and health, with
all their faculties perfect, under the conditions to which they are
subjected." [Footnote: Descent of Man, chap, iv.] Paulsen writes, "The
value of virtue consists in its favorable effects upon the development
of life...The value of life consists in the normal performance of all
functions, or in the exercise of capacities and virtues...A perfect
human life is an end in itself. The standard is what has been called
the normal type, or the idea, of human life." [Footnote: System of
Ethics, book II, chap. II.]
(1) Such a point of view gives opportunity for stimulating words. But
it gives no guidance. Observation can teach us, slowly, what conduct
makes for happiness; but what conduct makes for "self-development"?
The fact is, the cultivation of any impulse will develop us in its
direction and preclude our development in other directions; along which
path shall we let ourselves develop? Every choice involves rejection;
infinite possibilities diverge before us; which among the myriad
impulses that call upon us shall we follow? While still young and
plastic, we may develop ourselves into poets or philosophers or lawyers
or businessmen.
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