ABSTRACT
The sentiments of right and duty refer mainly to divine commands and interdicts; and have little reference to the natures of the acts commanded or interdicted. But during the growth of that civilization which has been made possible by the ego-altruistic sentiments, there have been slowly evolving the altruistic sentiments. The natural process by which sympathy becomes developed into a more and more important element of human nature has to be explained; and there has to be explained the process by which sympathy produces the highest and most complex of the altruistic sentiments—that of justice. While absolute morality owes to expediency the checks which prevent it from rushing into Utopian absurdities, expediency is indebted to absolute morality for all stimulus to improvement. Hence experiences of utility, consciously or unconsciously organized, underlie chief's injunctions; and the sentiments which prompt obedience are, though very indirectly and without the knowledge of those who feel them, referable to experiences of utility.
