A corrupt or immoral society is ultimately an unhappy or dying society. The distinction between asceticism and self-discipline is that the first tends to undermine our health, shorten our life, and destroy our happiness, while the second tends to build up our health, prolong our life, and increase our happiness. Ethical propositions are not true or false in the sense that existential propositions are true or false. Ethical rules are not descriptive, but prescriptive. True, ethical judgments or propositions, though they must always take facts into consideration, are not themselves purely factual but valuative.
Morality is autonomous.
While religion often serves as a force that strengthens adherence to moral rules, the appropriate moral rules themselves, and the nature of our duties and obligations, have no necessary dependence on any theological doctrine or religious belief. This list of propositions does not, of course, aim to be complete. It will be convenient to give the system of ethics set forth in this book a distinctive name. It can, of course, be fitted into several very broad existing classifications. It is eudaemonic, because it regards the end of action as the promotion of the greatest happiness and well-being in the long run.