Note 381 — Chapter II
Henry P. (Henry Pomeroy) Horton translation
In my opinion it is indisputable that honesty is as little innate as any other moral conception.381 No child can distinguish between mine and thine, it is only little by little that he gains this concept. On the contrary he has the tendency to monopolize everything that he desires (the prehensory instinct, Lafargue names it).382 It is just this instinct that must be combated to make a child honest. It would, therefore, be more correct to say that dishonesty is innate. Unless one takes account of this fact it is impossible to give the etiology of theft and crimes of the same nature.