114 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



While the majority of men at any period in history 

 will place in the category of right actions those which 

 the general public approves, the individual may fre- 

 quently make his classification differently. Consid- 

 ering the variation in the mental attributes of man, 

 their different conditions and education, there is no 

 dijficulty in understanding why some individuals 

 make classifications of actions differently from 

 others. Most people believe amusements a necessity 

 for healthful mental activity, but some, brought up 

 under special environments, class all amusements in 

 the category of wrong. Just as soon as the indi- 

 vidual makes his classification his conscience impels 

 him to follow his ideals. If he has classified amuse- 

 ments as wrong, his conscience will tell him to shun 

 them with the same kind of repulsion which his 

 neighbor feels for falsehood. If he has classified a 

 lie as wrong, while his acquaintance, a man of the 

 slums, because of his different environment, has 

 regarded murder as sometimes justifiable, he will 

 feel a greater loss of self-respect from telling a lie 

 than the man of the slums will feel from committing 

 murder. This murderer has a different classifica- 

 tion of acts, for he may have an equal repulsion 

 from certain actions which he classifies as wrong, 

 as, for example, the betrayal of a companion in 

 crime. Indeed, when the right is looked at as a 

 thing in itself and man groups actions in two cate- 

 gories, as right and wrong, there is ground for 

 endless variety in action. Now we see how some may 

 be far in advance of the average opinion of the race. 

 We see how the spirit of the martyr is accounted for, 

 and we see how conscience may come now to lead the 

 race onward instead of following it. 



