PSYCHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION 197 



Japanese have high codes of morals, with very in- 

 distinct notions of religion ; while the Hindus have 

 very strong religious feelings, combined with weak 

 ideas of morality. However, it is not possible to 

 give even the slightest outline of ethical evolution 

 without mentioning the religious element. The 

 important point to remember is, that ethical develop- 

 ment is due to a conflict of wishes in the individual 

 himself, and is possible only because man has the 

 power of choosing one of these wishes and acting 

 upon it ; that is to the exercise of free-will. It 

 seems to me that free-will would be useless to any 

 being who did not possess a moral sense ; for its 

 only use is to cultivate morality. The exercise of 

 this free-will by ignorant man leads to much injus- 

 tice on the earth ; but that is part of his education ; 

 and no doubt the end will be found to justify the 

 means. 



The growth of Natural Philisophy. Next, as to 

 the intellectual development of man. Ever since 

 the dawn of the human intellect man has tried to 

 increase his knowledge in two ways by observa- 

 tion and by speculation. Observation came first, 

 for that is common to man and animals. Specula- 

 tion is a distinctly human attribute, and we find 

 that it soon out-distanced observation, and formed 

 the basis of the earlier philosophies. But during the 

 last few centuries the observational method has once 

 more come to the front under the name of science, 

 and its conclusions have not always been in accord 

 with those of the speculative philosophies which 

 preceded it. 



