THE PROBLEM OF THE WILL qj 



For many years I have studied this problem of 

 freedom in its relation to the physical organism. 

 Abstract speculations concerning it are of little 

 value. The question is one of science, physical 

 and mental science ; and that leads to the follow- 

 ing conclusion : a study of physical science alone 

 I necessitates the belief that there is no such thing 

 [as freedom, and that our faith in its reality is, as 

 Herbert Spencer says, " an inveterate illusion ; " 

 that man is no more free than a leaf in a tornado 

 or a feather in Niagara. But it is unscientific to 

 stop with a study of physical facts. The spiritual 

 realm is as real and as evident as the physical, 

 and investigation of the latter results in the con- 

 viction that in a certain sense man is free, though 

 not so free as to be unmodified by the physical 

 sphere in and through which he must live. 



III. We have now reached this point: the evi- 

 dence which indicates that freedom is a fiction is 

 balanced by facts on the other side which indicate 

 that it is a reality. Is there no other evidence 

 that can be brought in to turn the scale one way 

 or the other .'' There remains one unequivocal 

 witness in favour of freedom whose deliverance 

 for most thinkers will ever have decisive force, 

 namely, consciousness. How do we know that 

 we are free .'' Consciousness bears witness to free- 



