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The biological key to this seems to me to lie in the following observation. The particular example given above showed that a special characteristic which was originally helpful to the species may become damaging to it in the course of evolution; in just the same way, an egotistical attitude in general is a virtue, helpful to the species, in an animal living in solitude, but becomes damaging to the species if it lives in community with others. Hence those with a long phylogenetic history of city-building, like ants and bees, have long since abandoned all egotism. Man, who is obviously much younger in this respect, is only beginning to do so; with us this transformation is even now in progress. It is bound to take place, with all the necessity of a natural law, for an animal which advances to the building of cities without abandoning egotism will not survive; hence only those builders of cities who achieve this transformation will continue to exist. Of course it does not follow from this that we shall make this transformation, for we are not bound to continue as a species; an individual can and most often will remain totally indifferent to this. But, on the other hand, it is a fact that for every normally constituted human being nowadays, unselfishness is the unquestioned theoretical standard of value, the ideal criterion of action—however infinitely remote his own actions may be from that criterion. In this very remarkable fact, almost inconceivable in its contrast with the actual behaviour of men, I perceive an indication that we are at the beginning of a biological transformation from egotistic to altruistic attitudes.

To me, then, this seems to be the biological role of the ethical value-judgement: it is the first step towards the transformation of man into an animal sociale.

But let me say once more: I was not trying here to show forth the motives of ethical action, to exhibit a new ‘foundation for morality’. Schopenhauer, we know, did that, and it is scarcely likely that in this direction there will be anything essential as yet to add to what he said.