the mind upon immediate means.  To acquire unconsciousness of manner, the last thing to do is to aim directly for it; to acquire happiness, the worst procedure is to make it one’s conscious quest.  Yet in the former case the attainment of the ease of manner sought, and in the latter case the attainment of the happiest life for one’s self and those whom one’s action affects is the touchstone which at bottom determines the method to be adopted.  The proper method, we contend, is-morality.  It is the method that Carlyle recommends.  So that in practice we agree with him, while parting with him in theory.

(2) Carlyle evidently has in mind usually the thought that it is one’s own happiness only that is put up as the end by the moralists he opposes.  This was pure misunderstanding, however, or perversity.  Other men’s happiness has intrinsic worth (or is intrinsic worth, for the word and the phrase are synonymous) as truly as mine; and morality is concerned quite as much with guiding the individual toward the general good as toward his own ultimate welfare.  To this point we must return, merely mentioning here the fact that no reputable moralist now preaches the selfish theory.

(3) A part of Carlyle’s ammunition consists in the slurring connotations which have grown up about the word “pleasure,” and even the word “happiness.”  Because of the practical need of opposing immediate in the interests of remoter good, the various words that designate intrinsic and immediate value have come to have a less worthy sound in our ears than those words which indicate control for the sake of more widespread or lasting interests-such as “prudence,” “duty,” and “virtue.”  Moreover, the word “pleasures” commonly connotes the minor goods of life in contrast with the great joys, such as the accomplishment of some worthy task or the service of those we love.  Again, it commonly connotes things passively enjoyed, rather than the active joys of life, which are practically more important.  So that to condemn “pleasure” as an end arouses our instinctive sympathy.  A “pleasure” is any bit of immediate good, however involved with pain, however transitory, and dangerous in its effects.  “Happiness” generally refers to a more permanent state of satisfaction, including comparative freedom from pain; a stable and assured state of intrinsic worth, good to reflection as well as to sense.  Pleasures are easy enough to get, but this safe state of happiness, full of rich positive worth, and immune from pain both in action and in moments of retrospect, is far from easy.  Hence it is better to use the word “happiness” for our goal than the word “pleasure.”  Carlyle, however, takes “happiness” in the lower sense and rejects it in favor of what he calls “blessedness.”  This gives him the advantage of seeming to have a new and superior theory.  But when we ask what “blessedness” is, it is apparent that it can be nothing but what we call “happiness” or the living of life in such a way as to lead to happiness.