Chapter 8 seven

But all this is a precious fantasy.Oh, please, who was the first to declare, who was the first to declare, that a man is clean of baseness because he does not know his own real interest; Open your eyes and see his real and normal interests, then this person will immediately stop doing evil, and immediately become a kind person and a noble person, because he has been educated and has understood his real interests, which is exactly what he is doing. Seeing his own interests in good deeds, it is very clear that no one will do the opposite when he knows his own interests. Therefore, it can be said that he does good deeds because he has to do so?Oh childish child!O pure and innocent child!First of all, during these thousands of years, in what year and month did a person do this or that only out of self-interest?How should we look at these millions and tens of millions of facts, which prove that some people clearly know, that is to say, fully understand their real interests, but they insist on putting their own interests on the back burner. He desperately wanted to go astray, to take risks, to try his luck, but no one, nothing compelled them to do so, as if he did not want to follow the right path pointed out to them, but insisted stubbornly and stubbornly. To open up another difficult and absurd path, almost groping forward in the dark.You know, this means that they really feel that this stubborn insistence on going their own way is happier than any benefits... Benefits!What are benefits?Do you dare to define it with complete precision; what is the interest of mankind?What if it happens that there are times when the good of man is not only possible, but even necessary, to wish himself bad under certain circumstances and not wish his own good?If so, if such a situation could arise, the whole rule would be wiped out.What do you guys think?How often does this happen?You are laughing; laugh, gentlemen, but please answer, are the interests of mankind calculated with complete precision?The absence of such interests not only cannot be classified, but cannot be classified into any category.You know, gentlemen, as far as I know, your list of human interests is calculated by taking an average from statistics and economic formulas.You know, your interests—that is, happiness, wealth, liberty, peace, and so on, etc.; From your point of view, yes, of course, and from my point of view, he's an obscurantist or just plain crazy, isn't he?But, you know, it's a surprise: why does it happen that all these statisticians, philosophers, and lovers of humanity, when they calculate the benefits of humanity, so often ignore one benefit?Not even counting it in the form it should be, but the whole calculation is correct on that.In fact, it's not a big deal, just take it, take this benefit, and add it to the list.But the hell is that this very delicate interest doesn't fit into any category, and therefore doesn't fit into any list.For example, I have a friend of... oh, gentlemen!Isn't he also your friend; besides, who is he not friends with!When this gentleman is about to do a thing, he will immediately describe to you eloquently and clearly how he will act according to the laws of reason and truth.Moreover; he will speak to you with passion and passion of the real and normal human interest; and he will sneer at short-sighted fools who understand neither their own interests nor the true meaning of good virtue; But—only a quarter of an hour later, and without any sudden or external reason, but entirely according to some inner impulse, stronger than all his interests—suddenly changed course and threw out a completely different new one. Tricks, that is to say blatantly contrary to what he himself just said; against the laws of reason, against his own interests, well, in a word, against everything... I want to be here Mind you, my friend is a collective noun, so it's hard to blame him alone.Here is the question, gentlemen, whether there is, and does exist, such a thing that almost everyone values ​​more than his best interest, or (in order not to violate logic) such a most advantageous The interest (that is, the neglected interest of which we have just spoken) is more important and more advantageous than all other interests, and for it, if necessary, a person will even go against all laws, that is, at the cost of reason, honor, Peace, happiness--in a word, to put aside all these good and beneficial things, so long as this first and most beneficial interest is achieved, which he values ​​more than anything else.

"Well, this is also a benefit after all." You will definitely interrupt me. "Excuse me, sir, but listen to me slowly, and the question is not so much wordplay as the interest is so compelling because it destroys all our taxonomy and love of humanity for the sake of All the systems that happiness builds, often smashing them to pieces. In short, messing around and hindering everything. But before I tell you what this advantage is, I don't want to take the liberty of proclaiming that all these beautiful system, all these theories which explain to man what are his real and normal interests, in order that man, while striving to attain these interests, should at once become a good and noble human being--in my opinion, the present It's just a logician! You know, even if you establish such a theory, that is, to use human beings' own interest system to regenerate all human beings, you know, in my opinion, it is almost the same... Well, for example Well, even if we follow Buckle in arguing that, because of civilization, man becomes milder and therefore less bloodthirsty and less belligerent. Logically, he seems to have something to say. But man Such a preference for building systems and abstract conclusions, that they would rather deliberately distort the truth, prefer to be deaf and dumb, and turn a blind eye, as long as they can prove their own logic. I cite this example because it is too obvious. Again, please Look around: the blood is flowing, and everyone's happy like it's champagne. Then look at Napoleon - the great man and this one. Look at North America - the eternal alliance .Finally I would like to ask you to look at that farce Schleswig-Holstein... What does this civilization soften in us? Civilization only cultivates the diversity of human feelings... Except There is nothing else. It is by cultivating this variety of feelings that man probably develops to find pleasure in bleeding. You know, this happens to people a lot. Have you noticed, the most ingenious means The massacres are often almost the most civilized gentlemen, and even all the various Attilas and Stenka Racines dare not hold a candle to them, if they are not like Attila and Stenka Razin. Racine is so conspicuous only because such people are seen too often, are too commonplace, and are not surprising. Due to the development of civilization, if it is not because of this, people become more bloodthirsty, at least than In the past, bloodthirsty became worse and more odious. In the past, he wanted to kill, and he thought it was an act of justice. Therefore, he had a clear conscience and peace of mind when he killed the people he thought should be killed; but now we think that wanton slaughter is An ugly act, but we are still doing it, and worse than ever. Which is worse? - decide for yourself. It is said that Cleopatra (forgive me from Roman history This example) likes to prick the breasts of her slave girls with gold needles, and finds pleasure in their cries and convulsions. You will say that this happened in relatively barbaric times; but these are also barbaric times, so (also relatively In terms of) nowThere is also the phenomenon of being stabbed with needles; and even if man has now learned to see things sometimes more clearly than in barbarous times, he is still far from forming the habit of acting as reason and science lead him.But you still firmly believe that he will form the habit, when some old bad habits will be swept away, and a sound mind, clear reason, and science will completely transform human nature, And guide it on the right path.You firmly believe that at that time man himself will no longer voluntarily make mistakes, so to speak, he will no longer be willing to separate his will from his normal interests.Besides, you will say, science itself will then teach man (which, in my opinion, is a mere luxury) that he can in fact neither will nor will, and that such It has never been the case, and he himself is nothing more than something like the keys of a piano, or the pegs of an organ; besides, there are natural laws in the world; , but in accordance with the laws of nature to complete itself.Therefore, as long as these natural laws are discovered, man can be irresponsible for his own actions, so he lives very easily.It goes without saying that according to these laws, all human behavior will also be calculated mathematically like a logarithm table, up to a hundred thousand and eight thousand, and then recorded on the calendar; or better still In this way, there will be several publications that are convenient for everyone to use, say, like the common encyclopedia now, in which everything is accurately calculated and arranged, so that there will no longer be any independent people in the world. Behavior and surprise.

At that time (these words are all spoken by you) there will be a new economic relationship that is completely ready-made and accurately calculated by mathematical methods, so all kinds of problems will disappear in an instant , to be honest, because there are all sorts of ready-made answers to these questions.At that time, the Crystal Palace can be built.At that time... well, anyway, a khan bird will fly at that time.Of course, no one can guarantee (and I still say this), that then, for example, it will not be very boring (because then everything is calculated in logarithmic tables, so what can be done), but everything will be done Be very sensible.Of course, because of boredom, what can't be thought of!Because of boredom, golden needles can also be stuck into people's bodies, but that's okay.It's too bad (and this is what I'm saying again) that people still welcome golden needles to prick them back then.Know that people are stupid, rare stupid.That is to say, he was not stupid at all, but he was ungrateful enough that no one could ever be more ungrateful.I am not at all surprised that, for example, in the future when everyone is sane, a gentleman suddenly appears for no reason, with a vulgar, or rather, stubborn and With a mocking face, he put his hands on his hips, and said to us all: Well, gentlemen, shall we just kick this whole sanity out of the way and make it into nothingness, our only purpose is to get the hell out of these logarithmic tables , let us live according to our stupid will again!That's nothing.But the exasperation is that he is sure to find a following: it is human nature.And all this is done for a most vain cause, which doesn't seem worth mentioning: it is simply because a man, wherever he is, and whoever he is, likes to do what he wants to do. , and does not at all like to do what reason and interest order him to do;Purely his own free will, purely his own wildest capriciousness, his own fancies sometimes aroused almost to insanity--this is the neglected greatest interest, namely The most favorable interest that cannot be classified into any one class, and by which all systems and theories are often shattered to hell.What basis do all these sages have for saying that every human being needs to develop some normal, some virtuous aspiration?Why should they assume that each individual must have some rational desire to benefit himself?All a man needs is his desire to be independent, no matter how much it costs or where it may lead him.Note, ghosts know this wish...