>If correctly understood interest is
>the principle of all morality, man's private interest must be made to
>coincide with the interest of humanity.
I couldn't put it better myself, but luckily for us John Donne could:
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or
of thine own were: any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bells
tolls; it tolls for thee."
The moral is that true solidarity with others is unconditional. It would not even cross the mind of the "universally developed individual", that Ted goes on and on about in every single post, to take the attitude of Mike's little red hen. (See, I told you I couldn't put it better myself.)
Mind you, that Karl Marx fellow was apparently a bit of an idle malingerer himself. Refused to get a proper job and instead relied on others to support him while he lolled about the house scribbling all sorts of nonsense theories. A useless eater, in other words. I doubt if Mike would pay much heed to the likes of him.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas