to duty, that it is not
mentioned in the department until the very end. To cultivate happiness
is not selfishness or vice, unless you confine it to self; and the mere
act of inquiring does not so confine it. If you are in other respects a
selfish man, you will apply your knowledge for your own sole behoof; if
you are not selfish, you will apply it for the good of your fellows
also, which is another name for virtue.

But the obstacles to a science of happiness are not solely clue to the
gaps and deficiencies in our psychological knowledge; they are equally
owing to the prevailing terrorism in favour of self-denial at all hands.
Many of the maxims as to happiness would not stand examination if people
felt themselves free to discuss them. You must work yourselves into a
fervour of revolt and defiance, before you call in question Paley's
declaration that "happiness is equally distributed among all orders of
the community". I do not know whether I should wonder most at the
cheerful temperament or the complacent optimism of Adam Smith, when he
asks, "What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health,
who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"[13] When the greatest
philosophers talk thus, what is to be expected from the unphilosophic
mob? The dependence of health on activity is always kept very loose, it
may be for the convenience of shutting our mouths against complaints of
being overworked. To render this dependence precise is a matter of pure
psychology.

* * * * *

[SOCIOLOGY.]

Before coming to Ethics I must, as a preparation, view another
derivative branch of psychology, the old subject of politics and
society, under its new name, SOCIOLOGY. It is obvious that all terms
used in describing social facts and their generalities are terms of
mind: command and obedience, law and right, order and progress, are
notions made up of human feelings, purposes, and thoughts.

Sociology is usually studied in its own special field, and nowhere else;
that is to say, the sociologist employs himself in observing and
comparing the operations of societies under all varieties of
circumstances, and in all historic ages. The field is essentially human
nature, and the laws arrived at are laws of human nature. A consummate
sociologist is not often to be found; the really great theorists in
society could be counted on one's fingers. Some of them have been
psychologists as well; I need mentio