509TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING. 
MONDAY, JUNE 6ru, 1910. 4.30 p.m. 
D. Howarp, Esq., D.L., F.C.S., F.L.C. (Vick-PrEsIDENT), 
IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The Chairman announced that this was the last Meeting of the Session, 
and congratulated the Institute on the success that had attended the 
Meetings of the year, and the admirable quality of the papers which 
had been read thereat. 
The following paper was then read by the author :— 
DETERMINISM AND FREE-WILL. 
By Archdeacon B, Porrer, M.A. 
NE cannot help feeling, notwithstanding the contrary view 
of some German philosophers, that purely speculative 
questions cannot boast of the same claim on our time and 
thought as those which concern conduct. Conduct is the all- 
important thing in life, and a man’s life is so short that it 
seems wise to confine, as far as possible, our intellectual 
investigations to questions which bear on its guidance. Now 
the question of Determinism or Non-Determinism of the Will 
on which I am asked to read this paper, is essentially a 
practical one. On our view of it largely depends the line we 
shall adopt in the conduct of our lives. If we have no power 
over our wills, they being determined independently of us 
by circumstances, by heredity, character and desire—then the 
natural conclusion is to sit down and acquiesce in the 
inevitable. If on the other hand the will is entirely uncon- 
trolled, it becomes unnecessary to take any steps to influence 
supposed controlling powers. So if we look round us and 
observe the lives and actions of men who think, we shall find 
that the goodness or badness of their ideals and conduct 
depend to a very considerable extent on the intellectual view 
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