Mr. Buckle s Fallacies. 179 



oping, and that our acquisitions, both moral and 

 intellectual, are constantly increasing. The moral 

 element is, then, no more stationary than the in 

 tellectual ; and thus Mr. Buckle s third grand ar 

 gument falls to the ground, and with it falls his 

 fundamental law, which is shown to be utterly 

 destitute of any truth whatever. 



It may be well to remark, before proceeding 

 further, that rejection of Mr. Buckle s second 

 law is perfectly compatible with acceptance of 

 his first. There is no inconsistency in saying, on 

 the one hand, that moral feeling is a civilizing 

 agency, and, on the other hand, that the progress 

 of civilization conforms to the successive trans 

 formations of opinion. For the ethical as well 

 as all the other emotions enter largely into every 

 opinion-forming process. Though our emotions 

 do not combine into propositions the ideas which 

 are constituent parts of our beliefs, they do none 

 the less, as Mr. Bain has clearly proved, 1 sway 

 the intellect as it performs this operation. The 

 emotions accordingly enter into every act of be 

 lief, and there can be no complete theory of human 

 opinion which leaves them out of account. Thus 

 our acceptance of Mr. Buckle s first law confirms 



1 See the whole of his admirable work on The Emotions and the 

 Will. 



