264 HEREDITY IN RELATION TO EUGENICS 



6. Freedom of the Will and Responsibility 



The consideration of the facts of heredity inevitably raises 

 the ancient question of the freedom of the will, and throws a 

 new light upon it. What is this free will? As I sit here in 

 my study I will that to-morrow I shoot my dog. But when, 

 to-morrow, I approach the dog to carry out my resolution his 

 signs of fondness for me, the abandon with which he throws 

 himself in the most helpless position at my feet, make the 

 act impossible for me. I go to a neighbor and say, ''My dog 

 is decrepit and enjoys Ufe no longer. I cannot kill him, will 

 you do me the favor of shooting him?" He says, "I will" 

 and does. We both had the will, why the difference in execu- 

 tion? Was he more resolute, more indomitable than I? It 

 does not follow; simply his reaction to the sight of the dog 

 did not overcome his resolution; mine did. There are va- 

 rious ways in which I might bring myself to do such an act. 

 I might shut out the stimulus of the sight of the dog by cover- 

 ing him, or I might train myself to view him with indifference 

 by associating him with some wrong, or I might picture more 

 vividly my duty so that it would be a stronger motive 

 than my affection or sympathy. By these means I naight 

 strengthen my ''will." But except in some such indirect 

 way my conduct is unmodifiable- Given such and such con- 

 ditions I am bound to react in such and such ways. 



A man of indomitable will is one who pictures so vividly the 

 work he plans to do that other, minor, stimuU are relatively 

 ineffective in opposition to the major stimulus. The man of 

 weak will has usually a less vivid and powerful imagination 

 and hence his actions are more determined by numerous 

 incidental stimuli. "Free will" is predicated in matters of 

 small consequence or concern to the person so that his ac- 

 tion is determined by habit or shght stimuli whose source 

 is unperceived. Though a man pride himself on the freedom 



