34

POLITICAL  ECONOMY

was  regarded  as  measurable.  The  so-called
Psychological  Utilitarians  used  to  hold  that
we  were  impelled  to  our  actions  by  this
feeling  element  as  motive  force,  and  by  its
opposite  ;  and  the  Ethical  Utilitarians  maintained ­
  in  addition  that  it  was  right  to  allow
ourselves  so  to  be  governed  provided  that
the  distribution  of  pleasure  corresponded
with  the  then  conceptions  of  equity.  To-day
cautious  psychologists  shun  dogmatising  about
the  impulses  which  set  on  foot  human  action  ;
and  the  economist  has,  therefore,  learnt,  or
should  have  learnt,  so  to  lay  the  foundations
of  his  science  in  demand  that  no  special
views  on  the  determination  of  human  action
are  implied,  and  his  science  is  not  left  in
compromising  company.  The  only  thing  of
which  we  can  be  quite  sure  is  that  people
choose  one  course  of  action  to  the  rejection
of  another,  and  choose  to  buy  one  thing
rather  than  another.  When  people  select
in  this  way,  we  may  say  that  they  exercise
preference.  Preference  is  the  fundamental
fact  with  which  the  economist  begins  the
construction  of  his  Science  of  Consumption.
And  it  must  be  firmly  grasped  that  the
existence  of  preferences  does  not  imply  that
people  always  seek  self-gratification.  We
work  for  others  as  well  as  ourselves,  and