Is Life Worth Living?

CHAPTER I.. The New Import of the Question.

THE NEW IMPORT OF THE QUESTION. PAGE

The question may seem vague and useless; but if we consider its real meaning we shall see that it is not so 1

In the present day it has acquired a new importance 2

Its exact meaning. It does not question the fact of human happiness 3

But the nature of happiness, and the permanence of its basis 4

For what we call the higher happiness is essentially a complex thing 5

We cannot be sure that all its elements are permanent 7

Without certain of its elements it has been declared by the wisest men to be valueless 8

And it is precisely the elements in question that modern thought is eliminating 11

It is contended that they have often been eliminated before; and that yet the worth of life has not suffered 13

But this contention is entirely false. They were never before eliminated as modern thought is eliminating them now 17

The present age can find no genuine parallels in the past 19

Its position is made peculiar by three facts 19

Firstly, by the existence of Christianity 19

Secondly, the insignificance to which science has reduced the earth 23

Thirdly, the intense self-consciousness that has been developed in the modern world 25

It is often said that a parallel to our present case is to be found in Buddhism 27

But this is absolutely false. Buddhist positivism is the exact reverse of Western positivism 29

In short, the life-problem of our day is distinctly a new and an as yet unanswered one 31

CHAPTER II.. Morality and the Prize of Life.

MORALITY AND THE PRIZE OF LIFE.

The worth the positive school claim for life, is essentially a moral worth 33

As its most celebrated exponents explicitly tell us 34

This means that life contains some special prize, to which morality is the only road 34

And the value of life depends on the value of this prize 35

J.S. Mill, G. Eliot, and Professor Huxley admit that this is a correct way of stating the case 36

But all this language as it stands at present is too vague to be of any use to us 38

The prize in question is to be won in this life, if anywhere; and must therefore be more or less describable 39

What then is it? 40

Unless it is describable it cannot be a moral end at all 41

As a consideration of the raison d'etre of all moral systems will show us 42

The value of the prize must be verifiable by positive methods 43

And be verifiably greater, beyond all comparison, than that of all other prizes 44

Has such a prize any real existence? This is our question 44

It has never yet been answered properly 45

And though two sets of answers have been given it, neither of them are satisfactory 45

I shall deal with these two questions in order 47

CHAPTER III.. Sociology As the Foundation of Morality.

SOCIOLOGY AS THE FOUNDATION OF MORALITY.

The positive theory is that the health of the social organism is the real foundation of morals 49

But social health is nothing but the personal health of all the members of the society 51

It is not happiness itself, but the negative conditions that make happiness for all 51

Still less is social health any high kind of happiness 54

It can only be maintained to be so, by supposing 55

Either, that all kinds of happiness are equally high that do not interfere with others 55

Or, that it is only a high kind of happiness that can be shared by all 56

Both of which suppositions are false 57

The conditions of social health are a moral end only when we each feel a personal delight in maintaining them 58

In this case they will supply us with a small portion of the moral aid needed 59

But this case is not a possible one 60

There is indeed the natural impulse of sympathy that might tend to make it so 61

But this is counterbalanced by the corresponding impulse of selfishness 63

And this impulse of sympathy itself is of very limited power 63

Except under very rare conditions 63

The conditions of general happiness are far too vague to do more than very slightly excite it 64

Or give it power enough to neutralise any personal temptation 66

At all events they would excite no enthusiasm 67

For this purpose there must be some prize before us, of recognised positive value, more or less definite 67

And before all things, to be enjoyed by us individually 67

Unless this prize be of great value to begin with, its value will not become great because great numbers obtain it 71

Nor until we know what it is, do we gain anything by the hope that men may more completely make it their own in the future 72

The modern positive school requires a great general enthusiasm for the general good 73

They therefore presuppose an extreme value for the individual good 74

Our first enquiry must be therefore what the higher individual good is 76

CHAPTER IV.. Goodness As Its Own Reward.

GOODNESS AS ITS OWN REWARD.

What has been said in the last chapter is really admitted by the positive school themselves 77

As we can learn explicitly from George Eliot 78

In Daniel Deronda 78

That the fundamental moral question is, 'In what way shall the individual make life pleasant?' 79

And the right way, for the positivists, as for the Christians, is an inward way 80

The moral end is a certain inward state of the heart, and the positivists say it is a sufficient attraction in itself, without any aid from religion 81

And they support this view by numerous examples 82

But all such examples are useless 83

Because though we may get rid of religion in its pure form 83

There is much that we have not got rid of, embodied still in the moral end 84

To test the intrinsic value of the end, we must sublimate this religion out of it 86

For this purpose we will consider, first, the three general characteristics of the moral end, viz. 88

Its inwardness 88

Its importance 89

And its absolute character 91

Now all these three characteristics can be explained by religion 93

And cannot be explained without it 96

The positive moral end must therefore be completely divested of them 100

The next question is, will it be equally attractive then? 100

CHAPTER V.. Love As a Test of Goodness.

LOVE AS A TEST OF GOODNESS.

The positivists represent love as a thing whose value is self-dependent 101

And which gives to life a positive and incalculable worth 103

But this is supposed to be true of one form of love only 104

And the very opposite is supposed to hold good of all other forms 105

The right form depends on the conformity of each of the lovers to a certain inward standard 105

As we can see exemplified in the case of Othello and Desdemona, etc. 107

The kind and not the degree of the love is what gives love its special value 108

And the selection of this kind can be neither made nor justified on positive principles 109

As the following quotations from Theophile Gautier will show us 110

Which are supposed by many to embody the true view of love 110

According to this view, purity is simply a disease both in man and woman, or at any rate no merit 116

If love is to be a moral end, this view must be absolutely condemned 117

But positivism cannot condemn it, or support the opposite view 117

As we shall see by recurring to Professor Huxley's argument 118

Which will show us that all moral language as applied to love is either distinctly religious or else altogether ludicrous 122

For it is clearly only on moral grounds that we can give that blame to vice, which is the measure of the praise we give to virtue 123

The misery of the former depends on religious anticipations 124

And so does also the blessedness of the latter 125

As we can see in numerous literary expressions of it 126

Positivism, by destroying these anticipations, changes the whole character of the love in question 128

And prevents love from supplying us with any moral standard 131

The loss sustained by love will indicate the general loss sustained by life 131

CHAPTER VI.. Life As Its Own Reward.

LIFE AS ITS OWN REWARD.

We must now examine what will be the practical result on life in general of the loss just indicated 132

To do this, we will take life as reflected in the mirror of the great dramatic art of the world 134

And this will show us how the moral judgment is the chief faculty to which all that is great or intense in this art appeals 136

We shall see this, for instance, in Macbeth 137

In Hamlet 137

In Antigone 137

In Measure for Measure, and in Faust 138

And also in degraded art just as well as in sublime art 139

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