IftheviewmaintainedintheprecedingchapterastothegeneralUtilitarianbasisoftheMoralityofCommonSensemayberegardedassufficientlyestablished，wearenowinapositiontoconsidermorecloselytowhatmethodofdeterminingrightconducttheacceptanceofUtilitarianismwillpracticallylead。Themostobviousmethod，ofcourse，isthatofEmpiricalHedonism，discussedinBookii。chap。iii。；accordingtowhichwehaveineachcasetocompareallthepleasuresandpainsthatcanbeforeseenasprobableresultsofthedifferentalternativesofconductpresentedtous，andtoadoptthealternativewhichseemslikelytoleadtothegreatesthappinessonthewhole。
InBookii。，however，itappearedthateventhemorerestrictedapplicationofthismethod，whichwetherehadtoconsider，wasinvolvedinmuchperplexityanduncertainty。Evenwhenanindividualisonlyoccupiedinforecastinghisownpleasures，itseemsdifficultorimpossibleforhimtoavoiderrorsofconsiderablemagnitude；
whetherinaccuratelycomparingthepleasantnessofhisownpastfeelings，asrepresentedinmemory，orinappropriatingtheexperienceofothers，orinarguingfromthepasttothefuture。Andthesedifficultiesareobviouslymuchincreasedwhenwehavetotakeintoaccountalltheeffectsofouractionsonallthesentientbeingswhomaybeaffectedbythem。Atthesametime，inBookii。wecouldnotfindanysatisfactorysubstituteforthismethodofempiricalcomparison。Itdidnotappearreasonabletotakerefugeintheuncriticisedbeliefsofmeningeneralastothesourcesofhappiness:indeed，itseemedimpossibletoextractanyadequatelyclearanddefiniteconsensusofopinionfromtheconfusedandvaryingutterancesofCommonsenseonthissubject。Noragaincoulditbeshownthattheindividualwouldbemorelikelytoattainthegreatesthappinessopentohimbypracticallyconfininghiseffortstotherealisationofanyscientificallyascertainablephysicalorpsychicalconditionsofhappiness:nordiditseempossibletoinferonempiricalgroundsthatthedesiredresultwouldbesecuredbyconformitytotheacceptedprinciplesofmorality。Butwhenweconsidertheselatterinrelation，nottothehappinessoftheindividual，buttothatofhumanorsentientbeingsgenerally，itisclearfromtheprecedingchapterthatthequestionofharmonybetweenHedonismandIntuitionismpresentsprimafacieanentirelydifferentaspect。IndeedfromtheconsiderationsthatwehavejustsurveyeditisbutashortandeasysteptotheconclusionthatintheMoralityofCommonSensewehavereadytohandabodyofUtilitariandoctrine；thatthe``rulesofmoralityforthemultitude’’aretoberegardedas``positivebeliefsofmankindastotheeffectsofactionsontheirhappiness’’，[1]sothattheapparentfirstprinciplesofCommonSensemaybeacceptedasthe``middleaxioms’’ofUtilitarianmethod；directreferencebeingonlymadetoutilitarianconsiderations，inordertosettlepointsuponwhichtheverdictofCommonSenseisfoundtobeobscureandconflicting。OnthisviewthetraditionalcontroversybetweentheadvocatesofVirtueandtheadvocatesofHappinesswouldseemtobeatlengthharmoniouslysettled。
Andtheargumentsforthisviewwhichhavebeenalreadyputforwardcertainlyreceivesupportfromthehypothesis，nowwidelyaccepted，thatthemoralsentimentsareultimatelyderived，byacomplexandgradualprocess，fromexperiencesofpleasureandpain。Thehypothesis，inasummaryform，wouldseemtobethis；1
intheexperienceofeachmemberofthehumancommunitythepainoralarmcausedtohimbyactionsofhimselfandofotherstendsbyassociationtoexciteinhimadislikeofsuchactions，andasimilarthoughfeeblereffectisproducedbyhisperceptionofpainordangercausedtootherswithwhomheisconnectedbyblood，orbycommunityofinterest，oranyspecialtieofsympathy:2experiencealsotendsmoreindirectlytoproduceinhimsentimentsrestraininghimfromactionspainfuloralarmingtoothers，throughhisdreadoftheirresentmentanditsconsequences，——especiallydreadofhischief’sanger，and，wherereligiousinfluencehasbecomestrong，oftheangerofsupernaturalbeings:3withtheselatterfeelingsblendsasympatheticaversiontothepainofothermengenerally，which——atfirstcomparativelyfeeble——tendstogrowinforceasmoralitydevelops。Inthesamewayexperiencesofpleasureandgratitude，anddesireofthegoodwillofothersanditsconsequences，tendtoproducelikingforactionsthatareperceivedtocausepleasuretoselfortoothers。Thesimilaraversionsandlikingsthatarethusproducedinthemajorityofthemembersofanysociety，throughthegeneralsimilarityoftheirnaturesandconditions，tendtobecomemoresimilarthroughcommunicationandimitation，——thedesireofeachtoretainthegoodwillofothersoperatingtorepressindividualdivergencies。Thuscommonlikingsforconductthataffectspleasurablythecommunitygenerallyorsomepartofit，andcommondislikesforconductcausingpainandalarm，cometobegraduallydeveloped；theyaretransmittedfromgenerationtogeneration，partlyperhapsbyphysicalinheritance，butchieflybytraditionfromparentstochildren，andimitationofadultsbytheyoung；inthiswaytheiroriginbecomesobscured，andtheyfinallyappearaswhatarecalledthemoralsentiments。Thistheorydoesnot，inmyview，accountadequatelyfortheactualresultsofthefacultyofmoraljudgmentandreasoning，sofarasIcanexaminethembyreflectiononmyownmoralconsciousness:forthis，asIhavebeforesaid，doesnotyieldanyapparentintuitionsthatstandthetestofrigorousexaminationexceptsuchas，fromtheirabstractandgeneralcharacter，havenocognisablerelationtoparticularexperiencesofanykind。Butthatthetheorygivesapartiallytrueexplanationofthehistoricaloriginofparticularmoralsentimentsandhabitsandcommonlyacceptedrules，Iseenoreasontodoubt；