ABSTRACT
All ethical theories are based on facts of the moral consciousness. Without such an empirical foundation none of them could have come into existence and, least of all, gained any supporters. Most ethical theories have recognized that there is some connection between moral valuation and the production of pleasure or pain; indeed the author thinks there is none that has completely failed to do so, if not expressly at least by implication. People have so long been taught that they ought to suppress their selfishness, that they at last have come to believe it, or in any case try to give the impression of doing so. Sometimes it is looked upon as a duty, sometimes as praiseworthy, but in the large majority of cases it is treated with moral indifference, whatever theorists may have to say about it. It has been contended that utilitarianism cannot adequately account for certain duties, such as justice, veracity, and chastity.
