The Utility of Man Discussed

James MacKaye '95 gave the last of his series of five lectures on "Political Engineering" in Emerson Hall yesterday afternoon, discussing in particular "The Utility of Man."

The highest ideal to which man can attain is the production of happiness. But by nature man is not fitted for this work for four reasons; he is more sensitive to pain than to happiness, he is highly susceptible to disease, his requirements for maintenance of life are too great to obtain the highest degree of efficiency and he produces in order that he may produce more, rather than that he may produce more, rather than that he may enjoy what he has already produced. Man's egotism is opposed by his will and turned into altruism, and his intelligence, which distinguishes him from other members of the animal kingdom and raises him to the realm of a divine being tends to offset his lack of efficiency in producing happiness. As the intelligence is developed, the human race will tend to become a "race of gods," which is the ultimate end of the universe.