Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, considering that the maxim did not sufficiently
guard the interests of the minority, and that, so far as was possible,
these also should be considered and guarded, added another phrase; his
basis ran: "The greatest happiness of the greatest number, with the
least injury to any." The rule was certainly improved by the addition,
but it did not remove many of the objections raised.
It was urged by the Utilitarian that morality had developed out of the
social side of human beings; that men, as social animals, desired to
live in permanent relations with each other, and that this resulted
in the formation of families; men could not be happy in solitude; the
persistence of these groups, amid the conflicting interests of the
individuals who composed them, could only be secured by recognising that
the interests of the majority must prevail, and form the rule of conduct
for the whole family. Morality, it was pointed out, thus began in family
relations, and conduct which disrupted the family was wrong, while that
which strengthened and consolidated it was right. Thus family morality
was established. As families congregated together for mutual protection
and support, their separate interests as families were found to be
conflicting, and so a _modus vivendi_ was sought in the same
principle which governed relations within the family: the common
interests of the grouped families, the tribe, must prevail over the
separate and conflicting interests of the separate families; that which
disrupted the tribe was wrong, while that which strengthened and
consolidated it was right. Thus tribal morality was established. The
next step was taken as tribes grouped themselves together and became
a nation, and morality extended so as to include all who were within
the nation; that which disrupted the nation was wrong, and that which
consolidated and strengthened it was right. Thus national morality was
established. Further than that, utilitarian morality has not progressed,
and international relations have not yet been moralised; they remain
in the savage state, and recognise no moral law. Germany has boldly
accepted this position, and declares formally that, for the State,
Might is Right, and that all which the State can do for its own
aggrandisement, for the increase of its power, it may and ought to do,
for there is no rule of conduct to which it owes obedience; it is a law
unto itself. Other nations have not formularised the statement in their
literature as Germany has done, but the strong nations have acted upon
it in their dealings with the weaker nations, although the dawning
sense of an international morality in the better of them has led to
the defence of international wrong by "the tyrant's plea, necessity".
The most flagrant instance of the utter disregard of right and wrong as
between nations, is, perhaps, the action of the allied European nations
against China--in which the Hun theory of "frightfulness" was enunciated
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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