THE relative significance of innate qualities and of the environ- 

 ment a complex problem for Biology, and a still more complex 

 problem for Psychology and Ethics. Attempts to simplify the 

 problem of the latter, by reserving something for the human 

 being which is other than the natural factors of his life ; and 

 to define the limits of the Self and to isolate it. Their failure. 

 The alternate accentuation of innate powers and external cir- 

 cumstance. Tendency of Biology to deny the inheritance of 

 acquired characters, and to insist upon the unbroken con- 

 tinuity of life. That Evolution intelligently interpreted levels_ 

 upwards, and assimilates nature to man_rather than man to 

 nature. Examination of the assumption that the significance 

 of innate character and that of external circumstance are in 

 inverse proportion. That they give meaning to each other, 

 and that their significance grows part passu. Conditions of life 

 which are alike in being necessary need not therefore be of 

 the same rank. Re-interpretation of the interdependence of 

 the child and his environment. That the child does not 

 inherhgropjnsi ties to jjgiod_or evi^ and that character can not, 

 be transmitted. The influence of Society. That Society can 

 raise the level of child life only by raising the level of its own 

 practical conduct. 



