The practice of that which is ethically best--what we call goodness or
virtue--involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed
to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In
place of ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of
thrusting aside, or treading down, all competitors, it requires that
the individual shall not merely respect, but shall help his fellows; its
influence is directed, not so much to the survival of the fittest, as
to the fitting of as many as possible to survive. It repudiates the
gladiatorial theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters
into the enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his
debt to those who have laboriously constructed it: and shall take heed
that no act of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted
to live. Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing
the cosmic process and reminding the individual of his duty to the
community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, if not
existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal
savage.