COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



choice means nothing if it does not mean the 

 power to exert volition in the direction indicated 

 by the strongest group of motives ; and since 

 all control over character is impossible unless 

 desires and volitions occur in a determinate 

 order of sequence ; it is the doctrine of lawless- 

 ness and not the causationist doctrine which is 

 incompatible with liberty and destructive of 

 responsibility. The rhetoric which Mr. Gold- 

 win Smith lavishes, on the strength of a set of 

 misapplied phrases, might therefore be justly 

 retorted upon him, on the strength of a psy- 

 chologic analysis. And this, which is the con- 

 clusion of science, we have seen to be also the 

 conclusion of common sense. Whatever may 

 be our official theories, we all practically ignore 

 and discredit the doctrine that volition is law- 

 less. Whatever voice of tradition we may be in 

 the habit of echoing, we do equally, from the 

 earliest to the latest day of our self-conscious 

 existence, act and calculate upon the suppo- 

 sition that voHtion, alike in ourselves and in 

 others, follows invariably the strongest motive. 

 And upon this ineradicable belief are based 

 all our methods of government, of education, 

 and of self-discipline. Finally, in turning our 

 attention to history, we have found that the 

 aggregate of thoughts, desires, and volitions in 

 any epoch is so manifestly dependent upon the 

 aggregate of thoughts, desires, and volitions in 

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