How can we reconcile egoism and altruism?

Although altruism is usually wise from the individual’s own standpoint, it does not always seem so.  The commonest moral clash is between the individual’s apparent good and that of others; the cases in which one man’s position, wealth, success precludes another’s are everyday occurrences.  Must this conflict be eternal?  Is there any way of reconciling these opposing interests except by an unhappy and regrettable sacrifice?  Must life be a perpetual compromise, a “social contract,” a treaty to make reciprocal concessions, with every one’s real interests at war with every one else’s?  Certainly the altruistic summons cannot be ignored; we cannot all follow our egoistic impulses; in the common disaster we should be individually involved.  And, indeed, the altruistic impulses have become so deeply rooted in our natures that, turn away from them as we might, they would yet persist in the form of an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and remorse.  The only possible solution of the deadlock lies in the killing-off of the selfish impulses.

This is not a fantastic dream.  We see in the ideal mother, father, husband, wife, in the ardent patriot and religious devotee, this sloughing-off of the egoistic nature already accomplished.  Love, and joy in service, are not alien to us; they are as instinctive as self-seeking; the hope of ultimate peace lies in the strengthening of these impulses till they so dominate us that we no longer care for the selfish and narrow aims.  We must cultivate the masculine aspect of unselfishness, the loyalty of the Greeks, the impulse to stand by and fight for others; and we must cultivate its more feminine side, the caritas of I Corinthians XIII, the love that suffereth long and is kind, the sympathy and tenderness infused into a rough and rugged world by Christianity.  In this highest developed life there will then be no dualism of motive; at the top of the ladder of moral progress individual and social goods coincide.  It is joy to the righteous to do righteousness; it is the keenest delight in life for the lover of men to serve.

The unselfish impulse has thus a double value; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.  It is more blessed to give than to receive, when the giver has reached the moral level where giving is his greatest joy.  The development of sympathy and the spirit of service in modern times gives great hope that the time will come when men will universally find a rich and satisfying life in ways which bring no harm but only good to others.

H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, chaps, xi-XIV.  R. B. Perry, Moral Economy, chap, ii, secs, iv, V.; chap, iii, secs, V, vi.  F. Paulsen, System of Ethics, book ii, chap.  I, sec. 6; chap, vi; book iii, chap, X, sec. 1.  Dewey and Tufts, Ethics, chap, XVIII, sec. e.  W. K. Clifford, Right and Wrong, On the Scientific Basis of Morals, in Lectures and Essays, vol.  II.  R. M. McConnell, Duty of Altruism.  B. Russell, Philosophical Essays, chap.  I, sec.  V. J. Royce, Problem of Christianity, vol.  I, chap.  III.