No man hveth to himself. The amenities and the dis-
abUities of hf e are all shared. And the tendency is for life,
so viewed, to become more corporate and social, if for no
other reason than that of pubhc convenience. Men act,
possess, and enjoy in common, municipally, nationally,
and internationally. There results from this type of com-
munity of hfe an enhancement of material and mental
existence. But it seems to us shallow optimism on the part
of Comte to suppose that this outward community neces-
sarily begets what is reaUy different — an inner community
of heart, a unity of aim and motive, a reciprocation of
Love. And he admits that ' the social instincts would never
gain the mastery were they not sustained and called into
constant exercise by the economy of the external world,
an influence which at the same time checks the power of
the selfish instincts.' *

But why should these so-called ' social instincts ' gain
the mastery ? ' To the Positivist the object of Morals is
to make our sympathetic instincts preponderate as far as
possible over the selfish instincts ; social feeUngs over
personal feehngs.' ^ But it must be said that Comte gave
no sort of proof of the obhgation to effect this end, unless,
as Martineau suggests,^ that obhgation is considered to
be based on intuitive conviction, in which case the basis

• General View of Positivism, p. 17 (Bridges' trans.).
« Op. cit. pp. 67-68.
' Types of Ethical Theory (3rd edit.), i. p. 502.
