HUMAN FREEDOM 435 



application of the causal method in research. The nearer we 

 are to events in time the more difficult it is to trace their 

 causal structure." 1 This, in fact, is the explanation of the 

 use in science of such a thing as an "ideal spirit," or the 

 Laplacian omniscient being. "Scientific thought always re- 

 quires a certain distance and a clear separation as between 

 the thinking subject and the object of his thought, and this 

 distance is best guaranteed by the assumption of an ideal 

 spirit." 2 



We are now ready for the application of this notion to the 

 problem of human freedom. It has already been shown that 

 human behavior is regulated by causal laws; hence there is 

 no reason for denying the fact of causation as applied to 

 human beings. But what may be said of the applicability of 

 the law? Here a genuine difficulty arises. "There is a point, 

 one single point in the immeasurable world of mind and 

 matter, where science and therefore every causal method of 

 research is inapplicable, not only on practical grounds but 

 also on logical grounds, and will always remain inapplicable. 

 This point is the individual ego." 3 What are these grounds, 

 practical and logical? The practical grounds are easy to 

 discern. In practice we can never discover the causal con- 

 nections in our own personal conduct, "because this would 

 mean that the observing subject would also be the object 

 of research. And that is impossible; for no eye can see itself. 

 But in so far as any man is not entirely today that which he 

 was years ago there is a relative degree to which he might 

 subject his own experiences to causal scrutiny." 4 Presum- 

 ably this limitation is due, then, merely to the limitations of 

 the human intelligence; were our understanding more com- 

 prehensive we should be able to make a complete analysis 

 of ourselves. This, however, is erroneous because of the 

 difficulties constituting the logical grounds. ' It would be a 

 complete mistake to attribute the impossibility of forecasting 

 the subject's actions on purely causal lines to a lack of knowl- 



1 Ibid., p. 162. 3 Where Is Science Going?, p. 161. 



2 Philosophy of Physics, p. 81. 4 Ibid., p. 163. 



