Showing papers by "John Stuart Mill published in 1979"

Essays on politics and society

Abstract: ion both of individual peculiarities, and of the influence of moral culture,) it may be said of the first, that their feelings and actions will be mainly under the influence of pride: of the latter, under that of interest. Now, as in an aristocratic societv the elevated class, though small in number, sets the fashion in opinion and feeling, even virtue will, in that state of society, seem to be most strongly recommended by arguments addressing themselves to pride; in a democracy, by those which address themselves to self-interest. In the one, we hear chiefly of the beauty and dignity of virtue, a-aSource,40 lives in b-b+59,67 [not in Source] c40,59 namely, d-d40 (Reeve, Vol. III, Chap. iv [pp. 212-181. ) DE TOCQUEVILLE ON DEMOCRACY 1N AMERICA [I1] 185 the grandeur of self-sacrifice: in the other, of honesty the best policy, the value of character, and the common interest of ever}, individual in the good of the whole. Neither the one nor the other of these modes of feeling, our author is well aware, constitutes moral excellence: which must have a deeper foundation than either the calculations of self-interest, or the emotions of selfflattery. But as an auxiliary to that higher principle, and as far as possible a substitute for it when it is absent, the latter of the two, in his opinion, though the least sentimental, will stand the most wear. The principle of enlightened self-interest is not a lofty one, but it is clear and sure. It does not aim at might} objects, but it attains, without impracticable efforts, all those at which it aims. As it lies within the reach of all capacities. every one can without difficulty apprehend and retain it. By its adaptation to human weaknesses, it easil_ ol_talns great dominion: nor is its dominion precarious, since it employs self-interest itself to correct self-interest, and uses, to direct the passions, the verx instrument which excites them. The doctrine of enlightened self-interest produces no great acts of selfsacrifice, but it suggests daily small acts of self-denial. By itself it cannot suffice to make a virtuous man, but it disciplines a multitude of citizens m habits of regularity, temperance, moderation, foresight, self-command: and tf it does not at once lead men to virtue b_ their will. it draws them gradually in that direction by their habits. If the princ@e of \"'interest nghtl) understood\" were to sway the whole moral world, extraordlnar_ virtues would doubtless be more rare: but I think that gross depravlt) would then also be less common. That principle, perhaps. prevents some men from rising far above the le_et of mankind, but a great number of others, who were falling belo_ that level, are caught and upheld by it. Observe some few individuals, they are lowered b_ it: survey mankind, it is raised. I am not afraid to sa_. that the principle of enlightened self-interest appears to me the best suited of all philosophical theories to the wants of the men of our time: and that I regard it as their chief remaining securit_ against themselves. Towards it, therefore, the minds of the moralists of our age should turn, even should the} judge it incomplete, it must nevertheless be adopted as necessar\\ No pouer upon earth can prevent the increasing equalit_ of conditlon_ from impelling the human mind to seek out what is useful, or from inclining every member of the conmmnitv to concentrate his affections on himself. It must therefore be expected that personal interest will become more than ever the principal, if not the sole, spring of men's actions: but it remains to be seen ho_ each man will understand his personal interest. I do not thmk that the doctrine of self-interest, as it is professed in America, is self-evident in all its parts, but it contains a great number of truths so evident. that men, if they are but instructed, cannot fail to see them Instruct them, then, at all hazards: for the age of imphcit self-sacrifice and instinctive virtues is alreadx flying far away from us. and the time is fast approaching when freedom, public peace, and social order itself, will not be able to exist _ ithout instruction, e/Tocqueville, Vol. llI, Part 2. Chap. viii [pp. 197-9]. )e e_e40 IReeve, Vol. Ill, Chap. viii [pp. 253-6]. ) 186 ESSAYS ON POLITICS AND SOCIETY M. de Tocqueville considers a democratic state of society as eminently tending to give the strongest impulse to the Jdesire off physical well-being. He ascribes this, not so much to the equality of conditions as to their mobility, In a country like America every one may acquire riches: no one, at least, is artificially impeded in acquiring them: and hardly any one is born to them. Now, these are the conditions under which the passions which attach themselves to wealth, and to what wealth can purchase, are the strongest. Those who are born in the midst of affluence are generally more or less _'hlasds_ to its enjoyments. They take the comfort or luxury to which they have always been accustomed, as they do the air they hbreathe. It h is not le but de la vie, but une manibre de vivre. An aristocracy, when put to the proof, has in general shown ' wonderful facility in enduring the loss of riches and of physical comforts. The very pride, nourished by the elevation which the3\" owed to wealth, supports them under the privation of it. But to those who have chased riches laboriously for half their lives, to lose it is the loss of all; une vie manqude; a disappointment greater than can be endured. In a democracy, again, there is no contented poverty. No one being forced to remain poor: many who were poor daily becoming rich, and the comforts of life being apparently within the reach of all, the desire to appropriate them descends to the very lowest rank. Thus, The desire of acquiring the comforts of the world haunts the imagination of the poor, and the dread of losing them that of the rich. Manx scanty fortunes spring up: those who possess them have a sufficient share of phy.sicai gratifications to conceive a taste for those pleasures--not enough to satisfy it. They never procure them without exertion, and thev never indulge in them without\" apprehension. They are therefore always straining to pursue or to retain gratifications so precious, so incomplete, and sofugitive. If I inqmre what passion is most natural to men who are at once stimulated and circumscribed bv the obscurity of their birth or the mediocrity of their fortune, l can discover none more peculiarly appropriate to them than this love of physical prosperity. The passion for physical comforts is essentially a passion of the middle classes; with those classes it _ows and spreads, and along with them it becomes preponderant. From them it mounts into the higher orders of society. and descends into the mass of the people. I never met in America with any citizen so poor as not to cast a glance of hope and longing towards the enjoyments of the rich, or whose imagination did not indulge itself by anticipation in those good things which fate still obstinately withheld from him. On the other hand, I never perceived, amongst the wealthier inhabitants of the United States, that proud contempt of the indulgences of riches, which is sometimes to be met with even in the most opulent and d_ssolute aristocracies. Most of these wealthy persons were once poor: the_ have felt the stimulus of privation, they have long struggled with adverse fortune, and now that the victory is woo. 1-t40 taste for e-g40 blas_ as [printer's error?] h-h40 breathe;it z40 a DE TOCQUEVILLE ON DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA [II] 187 the passions which accompamed the contest have survived it: their minds are, as it were, intoxicated b) the petty enjoyments which the``' have pursued for forty years. Not but that in the United States. as elsewhere, there are a certain number of wealthy persons, who. having come into their property b_ inheritance, possess, without exertion, an opulence the``' have not earned. But even these are not less devotedl_ attached to the pleasure_ of material hfe. The love of physical comfort ,has_ become the predominant taste of the naUon: the great current of man's passions runs in that channel, and sweeps everything along m its course, k(Tocqueville, Vol. Ill, Part 2, Chap. x [pp. 206-7].) k A regulated sensuality thus lestablishedt itself--the parent of effeminacy rather_tSauch--_r'v; paying respect to the social ri*ghts of other people and to the opinion of the world; not \"'leading men awa_ in search of forbidden enjoyments, but absorbing them in the pursuit of permitted ones. This spirit is frequently combined with a species of religious morality; men wish to be as well off as the)' can in this world, without foregoing their chance of another.\"tq From the preternatural stimulus given to the desire of acquiring and of enjo)ing wealth, by' the mtense competition which necessarily exists where an entire population are the competitors, arises the restlessness so characteristic of American life. It is strange to see with what feverish ardour the Americans pursue their own welfare: and to watch the vague dread that constantl_ torments them lest the_ should not have chosen the shortest path which ma_ ]cad to it. A native of the United States clings to this world's goods as if he were certain never to din, and l_ so hast_ in grasping at all within his reach, that one uould suppose he was constantlvafrald of not hying long enough to enjo) them. He clutches everything, he holdsnothing fast, but soon loosens his grasp to pursue fresh graufications. . At first sight there _s something surprising m this strange unrest of so man,,\" happy\" men, uneasy m the na_dst of abundance The spectacle is. however, as olcl as the world: the novelt`` is to see a whole people furnish an example of it.... When all the prlvil@es of birth and fortune are abohshed, when all professions are accessible to all, and a man's own energies max place him at the top of any one of them. an easy and unbounded career seems open to his