THE HUMAN WILL 



determined ; and its invention of hell is a palpable 

 instance of the use of the fear of consequence as 

 a means of affecting human volition; nor am I 

 prepared to say that this device &quot;to haud the 

 wretch in order&quot; has been without use in time 

 past. The law that threatens penal servitude for 

 this mortal life and the Church that threatens 

 penal misery for eternal life, both recognize and 

 utilize the fact of determinism. 



The doctrine that the voice of conscience is the 

 voice of God&quot; involves the blasphemy that the 

 voice of God may command matricide on one side 

 of a mountain-range and forbid it on the other. 

 It was possible for Kant to admire &quot;the starry 

 heavens above and the moral law within&quot; because 

 the moral law within himself was admirable ; but the 

 dictates of one man s conscience may be an abom 

 ination to another. We have, therefore, to regard 

 conscience, or the moral character which deter 

 mines volition, as a product of the action of environ 

 ment upon a given inheritance; whether the con 

 science be displayed in a man or a dog matters not. 

 On first hearing Schopenhauer s analysis of con 

 science as consisting, in equal parts, of superstition, 

 fear of man, vanity, custom, and prejudice, one 

 may bewail or deride it; but it withstands some 

 criticism. You are probably not much moved by 

 sheer selfishness directed by orthodox teaching as 

 to the hereafter, even if you accept such teaching, 

 for men are usually much better than their creeds. 

 This possible motive aside, for vanity read self- 



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