i THE ETHICAL BASIS OF METAPHYSICS 15 



only thing that could be preferred to this would be a 

 universe whose perfection could not only be metaphysically 

 deduced, but actually experienced : but such a one our 

 universe emphatically is not. 



Hence the indetermination which, as William James 

 has urged, 1 Pragmatism introduces into our conception of 

 the world is essentially a gain. It brings out a con 

 nexion with the ethical conception of Freedom and the 

 old problems involved in it, which we need not here 

 consider. 2 When we do, we may see that while deter 

 minism has an absolutely indefeasible status as a scientific 

 postulate, and is the only assumption we can use in our 

 practical calculations, we may yet have to recognize the 

 reality of a certain measure of indetermination. It is 

 a peculiarity of ethics that this indetermination is forced 

 upon it, but in itself it is probably universal. In its 

 valuation, however, we may differ somewhat from James, 

 regarding it neither as good nor as ineradicable. Our 

 indeterminism, moreover, cannot have the slightest ethical 

 value unless it both vindicates and emphasizes our moral 

 responsibility. 



This brings us to our last point, viz. the stimulus to 

 our feeling of moral responsibility which must accrue 

 from the doctrine of Pragmatism. It contains such a 

 stimulus, alike in its denial of a mechanical determination 

 of the world which is involved in its partial determination 

 by our action, and in its admission that by wrong 

 action we may evoke a hostile response, and so provoke 

 our ruin. But in addition it must be pointed out that 

 if every cognition, however theoretical, be an act, and so 

 must have a practical purpose and value, it is potentially 

 a moral act. We may incur indeed the gravest responsi 

 bilities in selecting the aims of our cognitive activities. 

 We may become not merely wise or foolish but also 

 good or bad by willing to know the good or the bad ; 

 nay, our very will to know may so alter the conditions 

 as to evoke a response congenial with its character. 



It is a law of our nature that what we seek that we 



1 Will to Believe, p. ix. 2 Cp. Essay xvi. 



