lover of himself. But of which self is Aris-
totle thinking, the conjunct or the sepa-
rate? Much of the mystery surrounding
the notion of altruism is due to confusion
on this point. For example, when a man
is charged with selfishness it is usually be-
cause he is thought to have obtained some
advantage. But why should he not? He
is blamable only when he detaches the
thought of his own advantage from ad-
vantage to others. My good must not be
had at another's expense. When a plate
of apples is passed and I pick out the best
one, the wrong is not in my obtaining a
good apple but in my depriving somebody
else of one. That is selfishness. Whenever
my gain is not inconsistent with his or, as
is usually the case, actually contributes to
it, the larger the gain made by me the
better.

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