The movements of the lower animals have the same end.

Thus, on the supposition that man has been slowly evolved from lower forms, it is clear that the instinct of self-promotion must be the deepest and most ineradicable element of his nature, and it is this instinct which directly underlies the rudimentary sentiment of self-esteem of which we are now treating.
This instinct will appear, first of all, as the unreflecting organized habit of seeking individual good, of aiming at individual happiness, and so of pushing on the action of the individual will.

This impulse shows itself in distinct form as soon as the individual is brought into competition with another similarly constituted being.

It is the force which displays itself in all opposition and hostility, and it tends to limit and counteract the gregarious instincts of the race.

In the next place, as intelligence expands, this instinctive action becomes conscious pursuit of an end, and at this stage the thing pursued attracts to itself a sentiment.