540 LOGIC OF THE MORAL SCIENCES. 



mate to truth within given limits of observation), will oe considered as 

 scientific propositions by no one who is at all familiar with scientific 

 investigation J yet all modes of feeling and conduct met.with among 

 mankind have causes which produce them; and in the propositions 

 which assign those causes will be found the explanation of the empiri- 

 cal laws, and the limiting principle of our reliance on them. Men do 

 not all feel and act alike in the same circumstances ; but it is possible 

 to determine what makes one man, in a given position, feel or act in 

 one way, another in another ; how any given mode of feeling and con- 

 duct, compatible with the general laws (physical and mental) of human 

 nature, has been, or may be, formed. In other words, mankind have 

 not one universal character, but there exist universal laws of the For- 

 mation of Character. And since it is by these laws, combined with 

 the facts of each particular case, that the whole of the phenomena of 

 human action and feeling are produced, it is upon these that every 

 rational attempt to construct the science of human nature in the con- 

 crete, and for practical pm^poses, must proceed. 



§ 3. The laws then of the formation of character being the principal 

 object of scientific inquiry into human nature, it remains to determine 

 the method of investigation best fitted for ascertaining them. And the 

 logical principles according to which this question is to be decided, 

 must be those which preside over every other attempt to investigate 

 the laws of very complex phenomena. For it is evident that both the 

 character of any human being, and the aggregate of the circumstances 

 by which that character has been formed, are facts of a high order of 

 complexity. Now to such cases we have seen that the Deductive 

 Method, setting out from general laws, and verifying their conse- 

 quences by specific experience, is alone applicable. The grounds of 

 this great logical doctrine have formerly been stated : and its truth 

 will derive additional support from a brief examination of the speciali- 

 ties of the present case. 



There are only two modes in which laws of nature can be ascer- 

 tained : deductively, and experimentally : including under the denomi- 

 nation of experimental inquiry, observation as well as artificial experi- 

 ment. Are the laws of the formation of character susceptible of a 

 satisfactory investigation by the method of experimentation ] Evi- 

 dently not ; because even if we suppose unlimited power of varying 

 the experiment, (which is abstractedly possible, though no one but an 

 oriental despot either has that power, or if he had, would be disposed 

 to exercise it,) a still more essential condition is wanting : the power of 

 performing any of the experiments with scientific accuracy. 



The instances requisite for the prosecution of a directly experimental 

 inquiry into the formation of character, would be a number of human 

 beings to bring up and educate, from infancy to mature age. And to 

 perform any one of these experiments with scientific propriety, it would 

 be necessary to know and record every sensation or impression received 

 by the young pupil from a period long before it could speak ; includ- 

 ing its own notions respecting the sources of all those sensations and 

 impressions. It is not only imposssble to do this completely, but even 

 to do so much of it as should constitute a tolerable approximation. 

 One apparently trivial circumstance which eluded our vigilance, might 

 let in a train of impressions and associations sufficient to vitiate the ex- 



