Note 331 — CRIMINALITY. (continued 2)
Henry P. (Henry Pomeroy) Horton translation
The same thing must be true for men’s moral qualities. In ranking any number of persons according to the intensity of their innate social sentiments (supposing it were possible to apply a measure to these), we should find that here also the law in question held good; with the great majority the social sentiments would have only a moderate intensity, while there would be one small minority in which they would be weak, and another in which they would be very strong. We have no need to revert to the influence of the environment, for we have seen that it gives to all an egoistic or altruistic impulse, differing naturally according to the individual.331 Supposing that the environment were the same for all, there would still be great differences between men as to the intensity of their social sentiments.