Genetics and Ethics 333 



thus indirectly control their responses and habits but young chil- 

 dren are almost if not quite as incapable of choosing their environ- 

 ment as of choosing their heredity, and it becomes the duty of 

 society to see to it that the environmental stimuli are such as to 

 develop rational, social and ethical habits rather than the reverse. 



We need not think of the will as a deus ex machina, nor even 

 as "a little deity encapsuled in the brain," but rather as the sum 

 of all those psychical processes, such as memory and reason, 

 which regulate behavior. In this sense the will is as free as the 

 mind, and no freer. Indeed the will is the mind acting as internal 

 stimulus, inhibition, regulation; in this sense the existence and 

 power of will is no more to be doubted than the existence of those 

 other mental conditions which we call intellect or memory. 



Just as intellect or memory may be trained to accomplish re- 

 sults which would have been impossible to the untrained mind, so 

 will may be trained to initiate, inhibit or regulate behavior in a 

 manner quite impossible to one who has not had this training. 

 It is one of the most serious indictments against modern systems 

 of education that they devote so much attention to training mem- 

 ory and intellect and so little attention to the training of will 

 upon the proper development of which so much depends. 



5. Our Unused Talents. Will is indeed the supreme human 

 faculty, the whole mind in action, the internal stimulus which 

 may call forth all the capacities and powers. And yet the will does 

 not directly create nor even discover these powers ; they are pro- 

 duced by the factors of development, by heredity, environment 

 and training ; and they are usually discovered by accident or under 

 the stress of necessity. How often have we surprised ourselves 

 by doing some unusual or prodigious task ! What we have once 

 done we feel that we can do again. We realize more or less 

 clearly, depending upon our experience, that what we habitually 

 do is far less than we could do. It is this reserve, upon which we 

 can draw on special occasions, that gives us the sense of freedom. 



In his inspiring address on "The Energies of Men" William 

 James showed that we have reservoirs of power which we rarely 



