30. SOCIAL ORDER AND HUMAN WILL.—We
have seen that the material environment of a man,
the extent of his mastery over nature and of his emancipation
from the dictation of pressing bodily needs, is a factor
of enormous importance in determining what he shall
become and what sort of a life he shall lead.
That his social setting is equally significant is
obvious. What he shall know, what habits he shall
form, what emotions he shall experience in this situation
and in that, what tasks he shall find set before him,
and what ideals he shall strive to attain, are largely
determined for him independently of his choice.
To be sure, it remains true that man is man, endowed
with certain instincts and impulses and gifted with
human intelligence. Nor are all men alike in
their impulses or in the degree of their intelligence.
Within limits the individual may exercise choice, reacting
upon and modifying his environment and himself.
But a moment’s reflection reveals to us that
the new departure is but a step taken from a vantage-ground
which has not been won by independent effort.
The information in the light of which he chooses,
the situation in the face of which he acts, the emotional
nature which impels him to effort, the habits of thought
and action which have become part of his being—these
are largely due to the larger whole of which he finds
himself a part. He did not build the stage upon
which he is to act. His lines have been learned
from others. He may recite them imperfectly;
he may modify them in this or in that particular.
But the drama from which, and from which alone, he
gains his significance, is not his own creation.
The independence of the individual in the face of
his material and social environment makes itself more
apparent with the progressive development of man.
But man attains his development as a member of society,
and in the course of a historical evolution.
It was pointed out many centuries ago that a hand
cut off from the human body cannot properly be called
a hand, for it can perform none of the functions of
one. And man, torn from his setting, can no longer
be considered man as the proper subject of moral science.
It is as a thinking and willing creature in a social
setting that man becomes a moral agent. To understand
him we must make a study of the individual and of
the social will.
PART IV
THE REALM OF ENDS
CHAPTER XI
IMPULSE, DESIRE, AND WILL
31. IMPULSE.—Commands and prohibitions
address themselves to man as a voluntary agent.
But it seems right to treat as willed by man much more
than falls under the head of conscious and deliberate
volition. We do not hesitate to make him responsible
for vastly more; and yet common sense does not, when
enlightened, regard men as responsible for what is
recognized as falling wholly beyond the direct and
indirect control of their wills.
