Clemence Royer, another French native, published
several accounts of her work. She was first recognized for her translation
and personal interpretation of Darwin’s Origin of the Species Through Natural
Selection, proceeding that was The Good and the Moral Law; Ethics and Teleology.
Royer feels that happiness can be reached
when the egotistic minds of humans can put aside this socially constructed
idea of personal well- being and focus on the common good of humans. She
says that we desire happiness as much as we fight for survival, develop
our strengths, and entertain our intellects. The way to achieve this “totality
of pleasure” we must balance an equation developed by Royer, where the
good for each entity of social groupings is the sum of all enjoyable experiences
multiplied by the intensity of the experience. The bad is calculated in
the same manner except we replace the enjoyable with the painful.
Royer views seem almost totalitarian in comparison
with the views of America today. In post-modern society we believe in the
freedom of choice. That we may browse through a smorgasbord of beliefs
and ideologies, never actually committing to anything solely. We feel that
each individual has the right to do whatever gives him or her pleasure.
In Royer’s mind we are all egoists, digging the world a hole of unhappiness
that as time passes will multiply in depth. 2