DETERMINISM AND FREE-WILL. 309 
DISCUSSION. 
On the conclusion of the paper the CHAIRMAN called on the Rev. 
Gregory Smith, M.A., LL.D., to open the discussion. 
Dr. GREGORY SMITH, after thanking the lecturer for his very 
able address, demurred to the opinion expressed, that it is 
“impossible” on this vital question (because we have to accept two 
propositions, each true, but the one diametrically opposed to the 
other) to arrive at any logical conclusion. This would be so, if we 
had to reconcile Free Will with Divine Omniscience. But our 
question is narrower ; how to reconcile Free Will with Determinism— 
an ambiguous word, used to mean, that people, who may seem to be 
very ‘determined ” in the ordinary sense, are merely creatures of 
circumstance. ‘To affirm that man is free to choose one motive or 
another, when they clash, is not to deny that he is always influenced 
by a motive. 
There is no need now and here,* to comment in detail on the 
arguments quoted by the Archdeacon against the freedom of the 
will, “Solvitur ambulando.” For instance, in any misfortune the 
sharpest pang is invariably if we have to blame ourselves. 
Determinism is right, for instance, that heredity, environment, etc., 
etc., may put an almost overwhelming pressure on the will, but the 
solid fact remains that, normally, one has to choose and to decide. 
It is by this reiterated act, which begins with the beginning of 
intelligence, of choosing the good or evil, that the will makes 
itself, what it becomes, and forms the character. "E@os grows into 
700s. 
It is a question of psychology, on which subject our thoughts 
are rather hazy. We must go back to “il Maestro di tutti chi 
sanno,” keenest and closest of ethical philosophers. The advance of 
physical science may demonstrate more and more positively, that 
our mental and emotional faculties are mechanical ; but the “ spirit 
in man,” the will, the self has to control these operations. The 
* See What is Truth? (Murray) and Characteristics of Christian 
Morality (Bampton Lectures, Parker and Co.), ete. 
