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What is love for mankind in utilitarian moral theories from Bentham to Spencer? Guyau argues here that utilitarian sympathy is unable to bridge the gap between self-love and love for others. Moral life is like a business in which nothing is given for free and generosity a common lie or a vice. In order to criticize the utilitarian antinomy, Guyau shows that egoism and altruism have to be studied in a different way. If self-love does not lead to love for others, the main reason for Guyau is that self-love originates in this love for others by which the self expands itself, manifests its freedom and opens itself to the generosity of life.