88 ETHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



whole of the facts of experience, would leave one point only 

 open for a teleological interpretation ; that is, Why do 

 facts comply with the law of uniformity ? This, being the 

 foundation of the mechanical theory, can never be explained 

 by that theory. On all other points the teleological argu 

 ment would be barred, because, by postulating freedom of 

 choice, it contradicts the explanation by necessity. The 

 only possible way of conceiving personal freedom is as 

 independence of what is called (though improperly) causal 

 connexion. If all a man s actions are determined by 

 mechanical law, no choice can be imputed, and, conse 

 quently, no purpose. No room would be left either for 

 religious or for ethical speculation. 



Now we find as a fact that the scientific explanation 

 extends only to external nature. Within the, to us, far 

 more important province of human nature itself, it has never 

 yet been applied, and there is nothing to justify the expecta 

 tion that it will ever be made applicable. All hopes to 

 that effect may be traced to the unreasoning prejudices 

 of scientific men or a scientific age. Not only have attempts 

 to reduce to scientific law the facts of religion, of morality, 

 or of art, been predoomed to failure, but they seriously 

 impair the efficacy of those essential elements in human 

 nature. The explanation of human action as automatic 

 is barred in the first place by the methodological difficulty 

 that its phenomena are not susceptible of measurement, 

 and secondly, by the practical difficulty that it is not recon 

 cilable with other interests which are distinct from the 

 scientific interest and equally important. An explanation 

 of any action by natural law is universally accepted as a 

 quittance for responsibility and an exoneration from blame. 

 The will, whether human or divine, becomes a superfluous 

 assumption, and the foundations are cut away from both 

 morality and religion. The consciousness itself, at whose 

 instance we inquire for an explanation, becomes an un 

 meaning epiphenomenon, which, as it has no influence on 

 the course of events, admits of no explanation, either by 

 purpose, or by natural law. 



