< Page:What I believe - Russell (1925).pdf
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CHAPTER III
MORAL RULES
The practical need of morals arises
from the conflict of desires, whether
of different people or of the same
person at different times or even at
one time. A man desires to drink,
and also to be fit for his work next
morning. We think him immoral if
he adopts the course which gives him
the smaller total satisfaction of desire. We think ill of people who are
extravagant or reckless, even if they injure no one but themselves. Bentham
supposed that the whole of morality
could be derived from "enlightened
self-interest," and that a person who
always acted with a view to his own
maximum satisfaction in the long
run would always act rightly. I cannot
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