CHAPTER XVII. 

 THE EVOLUTION OF MORALS. 



I OUGHT ; I WILL : these words express the most 

 noteworthy of all experiences the obedience of 

 law in conscious freedom. We are now at the 

 opposite pole of being from the whirling molecule or 

 the revolving planet. We have entered a realm 

 .altogether diverse from that ruled by physical law. 

 The whole scene is changed. Life is here directed 

 towards an end voluntarily chosen as an object of 

 pursuit. Motives not forces are the impelling 

 power: reason not dynamic law determines con- 

 duct. Consciousness of liberty is the condition under 

 which obedience is rendered. 



No philosophy can long command a wide assent 

 that does not deal in a satisfactory way with the 

 problems of morality. The worth of a system may 

 be fairly judged by its account of the principles that 

 regulate conduct. Moral life is everything to man: 

 it is the man. In his best moments he feels that it 

 will profit him nothing, if he gain the whole cosmos, 

 and lose himself, or be cast away. Mr. Spencer cannot 

 be charged with under- estimating this great theme. 

 His ethical doctrine has*been, he tells us, the final aim 



