implies that they are, and I see no way of drawing it so as to avoid
the implication. But it is an error. In nature our powers have
different degrees of influence. We cannot suppose that John's
physical, commercial, domestic, and political life will have precisely
equal weight in the formation of his being. One or the other of them
will play a larger part. Accordingly we very properly speak of greater
goods and lesser goods, meaning by the former those which are more
largely contributory to the organism. In our physical being, for
example, we may inquire whether sight or digestion is the greater
good; and our only means of arriving at an answer would be to stop
each function and then note the comparative consequence to the
organism. Without digestion, life ceases; without sight, it is
rendered uncomfortable. If we are considering merely the relative
amounts of bodily gain from the two functions, we must call digestion
the greater good. In a table, excellence of make is apt to be a
greater good than excellence of material, the character of the
carpentry having more effect on its durability than does the special
kind of wood employed. The very doubts about such results which arise
in certain cases confirm the truth of the definition here proposed;
for when we hesitate, it is on account of the difficulty we find in
determining how far maintenance of the organism depends on the one or
the other of the qualities compared. The meaning of the terms greater
and lesser is clearer than their application. A function or quality is
counted a greater good in proportion as it is believed to be more
completely of the nature of a means.



III