The Management of Life 81 



characteristic of modern times; the word moral is 

 now to many a term of condemnation. 



So extreme a position is doubtless an excess of re- 

 action. But it is reaction to much that is unbiological 

 in conventional codes. To recognize the biological 

 basis for the distinctions of right and wrong as 

 grounded in the love of life and in the promotion of 

 its fulness and variety and adequacy will not solve all 

 problems, but it avoids the perversities of conven- 

 tionalized codes and makes unnecessary the extreme 

 reactions against them. So far as the formulation of 

 conduct into codes is necessary, these codes must at 

 intervals be examined and corrected in relation to 

 their effect on life ; otherwise, their harm may exceed 

 their benefit. 



But the adjustment of one's own immediate needs 

 and purposes to the equally justifiable needs and pur- 

 poses of others presents situations that cannot be met 

 in any simple or stereotyped way. No inner monitor, 

 no conscience, can tell us in a flash the distinction of 

 right and wrong; it is a matter for experience and 

 knowledge. No maxim or body of maxims can guide 

 in detail under all the complexities of life. From this 

 interaction of our own requirements with those of 

 others arises much of the difficulty involved in living, 

 arises a large part of the drama of Kf e. It makes of life 

 a progression in which no simple rules can guide; a 

 voyage in which the individual must continually feel 

 his way, must recognize conflicting claims, must use 

 his knowledge and his judgment at every point; and 



