EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY 



separable accompaniment of our refined civiliza- 

 tion."'^ Thus physics and the existence of sin in the 

 world, both preclude belief in free-will and in a be- 

 neficent Creator. 



The simple fact is, that the question of free-will 

 is one which cannot be solved logically for the reason 

 that we have not the data for postulates from which 

 to derive logical and satisfactory conclusions. On the 

 one side, the man of science can find no connection be- 

 tween thought and physical law; and on the other, the 

 fatalistic argument of the Calvinist for predestina- 

 tion and foreordination is founded on the postulate of 

 an omniscient and omnipotent God, whose purpose is 

 outside human experience. Our lives, as a whole, may 

 be the result of circumstance; we may be caught and 

 swept along in the current of physical law and hered- 

 ity : but each of us is convinced that every individual 

 action is the result of his own choice and volition. 

 And no man of any character or self-esteem will ex- 

 cuse his conduct on the grounds of fatalism but will 

 accept the punishment or reward of his act as the re- 

 sult of his personal decision. 



Our whole social system is based on the common 

 belief in free-will and on the accountability of the 

 individual for his acts; in the unqualified denial of 

 personal responsibility, true or not, lies despair or 

 madness for the individual, and anarchy and disinte- 

 gration of society. 

 ^^Ibid., vol. I, p. 19. 



C 337 3 



