This type of self preservation is human nature.
The impulse of self preservation in nature is the lowest form of religion; above this comes animal religion; and finally rational religion, the perfection of which consists in perfect knowledge, pure volition and love, and is union with God.
Can't have political correctness and political self-preservation compromised by common sense in the pursuit of public safety - can we?
In the interests of self-preservation against the world, the state and the heretics, the Christian communities had formed themselves into compact societies with a definite creed and constitution, and they felt that their existence was threatened by the white heat of religious subjectivity.
By this principle Ferguson endeavours to reconcile all moral systems. With Hobbes and Hume he admits the power of self-interest or utility, and makes it enter into morals as the law of self-preservation.