promoted an idealist version of moral perfectionism. He was however realistic and not sentimental acknowledging that man has done evil knowingly and deliberately. Adler's ethics combined an appeal to universal principles with moral particularism, which holds that the unique circumstances of a particular case must be carefully considered to determine the moral choice in that case. Adler believed that moral laws could not be applied in the same way to varied and unique individuals but that moral principles applied to all. He saw a need to balance essential general principles with consideration of the particular specific circumstances. He developed his own version of what he called Kant's "formula" which was, "Treat every [person] as a spiritual means to thine own spiritual end and conversely." He proposed a "supreme ethical rule" which he stated as follows: "So act as to elicit the unique personality in others, and thereby in thyself", or "Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself." He thought by doing so one would transcend both egoism and altruism. His position was that virtue is and must be its own reward or else it is not really virtue. He characterized a virtuous act as one, "in which the ends of self and of the other are respected and promoted jointly", coordinating Kantian universalistic imperative ethics with a type of perfectionism. He took ethics seriously and felt it "must run like a golden thread through the whole of a [person's] life". He felt consequentialism particularly utilitarianism was inappropriate in ethics as it attempts to apply quantitative measures to something of a qualitative nature. Adler's social philosophy opposed commercialism. He claimed, "The root disease that afflicts the world at the present day is the supremacy of the commercial point of view." His thought prized public works and the use of reason to develop ultimate ethical standards. Adler published such works as Creed and Deed (1878), Moral Instruction of Children (1892), Life and Destiny (1905), The Religion of Duty (1906), Essentials of Spirituality (1908), An Ethical Philosophy of Life (1918), The Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal (1925), and Our Part in this World. He made use of ideas from Judaism, as well as the philosophies of Kant and Ralph Waldo Emerson, mixed with certain socialist ideas of his time. He believed that the concept of a personal god was unnecessary and thought that the human personality was