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PART II.

IMPULSES AND RESTRAINTS BELONGING TO THE NATURE OF MAN.

CHAPTER I.

IMPULSES TO ACTION.

1. THERE are certain forces belonging to human nature which so operate as to impel us to act. By means of these Impulses, activity is made a law of our nature.

2. These Impulses have been denominated 'principles of action,' 'motives,' 'active powers,' and 'springs of action.' 'Principle,' signifying a commencement, may apply to the origin of activity, as well as of knowledge; but it is better that it be kept for the latter application, and it is so reserved here. 'Motive' is ambiguous, being applied to external objects which attract, as well as to internal forces which impel. 'Active Powers,' the favourite title of Reid and Stewart, does not adequately discriminate these forces from the intellectual powers.

3. Some Impulses belong to our physical nature, and are experienced by us in common with the lower animals. They are not acquired, but are essential conditions of animal existence, concerned with the support of the physical frame and the continuance of the race. They are hunger, thirst, and sex. In these, appears man's affinity of nature with the brutes. These Impulses are commonly named Appetites. In a rational

nature, they are warrantably gratified only in accordance with an intelligent regard to their appointed ends. Deflection from this is surrender of rational self-government, and assimilation to brute life.

4. The larger number of Impulses are of a superior order, as is shown by their dependence upon intelligence for their rise in consciousness.

5. Various forms of classification have been proposed. Dr. Reid gives a threefold division,-mechanical, animal, and rational.—Active Powers, III. i. 1. This is a mixed division, as mechanical impulses are animal. It has been objected to by Stewart (Philos. of Act. and Mor. Powers, Intro.), who classifies thus :-Appetites, Desires, Affections, Self-love, the Moral Faculty. Dr. Thomas Brown arranges by reference to their relation to time, Immediate, Retrospective, and Prospective. Lect. 52. For Professor Bain's classification, v. Emotions and Will, chap. II.

6. Difference of psychological nature among the Impulses affords a philosophic ground of classification. On this basis Impulses may be divided into three classes,-Desires, Affections, and Judgments;-craving powers, giving powers, and persuading powers. These indicate respectively, the emptiness of our nature, the fulness of our nature, and power of discrimination in our nature for self-guidance. All these forms of impulse may be blended in a single mental state, but they cannot be merged in each other, or lose their distinctive features.

7. DESIRE is craving,-a force impelling us to draw into our possession what is fitted to give satisfaction. It primarily affords evidence that our nature is not self-sufficient. Every desire involves three things,-(1.) consciousness of want; (2.) consequent restlessness of nature; and (3.) longing for satisfaction. These three particulars indicate the origin, attendant sensibility, and essential characteristic of the impulse so denominated. Appetites are a class of desires, belonging to physical existence. They are distinguished from other desires,

as being periodical, and becoming quiescent by means of satisfaction. Mental Desires are continuous in exercise, seek continuity of gratification, and are dependent upon some degree of intelligence for their exercise. Stewart distinguishes the following mental desires,-Desire of knowledge, of society, of esteem, of power. (Outlines of Mor. Phil.) Though the Desires seek self-satisfaction in contrast with the satisfaction of others, they are not selfish, that is, do not seek their end by the injury of others. Where selfishness appears there is unnatural desire, associated with the natural or normal. Our Desires are the forces which specially expose us to the risk of selfishness. On this account, every exercise of desire calls for rigid application of self-government.

8. AFFECTION is inclination towards others, disposing us to give from our own resources what may influence them either for good or ill. In practical tendency, the Affections are the reverse of the Desires. Desires absorb; Affections give out. Affections presuppose a recognition of certain qualities in persons, and, in a modified degree, in lower sentient beings, but not in things, for the exercise of affection presupposes in the object of it the possibility either of harmony or antagonism of feeling. Affections take the form of Love or Hate (Antipathy), according as the objects of them are esteemed, in any sense, good or bad; and the form of Reverence or Pity, according as the object is esteemed either superior or inferior in nature and experience. Desires invariably seek what is accounted a personal gain. But affections are of two classes, seeking either the benefit or the restraint of others. In the latter class, affections have an element of self-protection, which is of great moral significance.

9. JUDGMENTS of two distinct classes take rank as impulses, namely, Judgments of Prudence, concerned with selfinterest or expediency; and Judgments of Rectitude, concerned with rightness in actions and dispositions, leading to judgments of obligation and responsibility.

For the difference between these two classes of judgments, as impulses to actions, see Reid's Act. Powers, III. 3. That Conscience performs the function of what the Scotch School have called 'Active Powers,' is commonly held; but, on any theory, this is possible only by means of a judgment bearing on present circumstances.

Judgments do not simply and of themselves perform the function of impulse, but these two classes of judgments have associated with them certain dispositions whose impelling force operates with the judgments. These dispositions are, desire of personal advantage (often called, self-love) with expectation or hope; and reverence for moral law, with devotion to the Deity as Moral Governor. Without the judgments, the attendant dispositions are not experienced. The judgments, therefore, are properly regarded as the origin of impelling force. On the other hand, without the attendant disposition, the judgments would fail to perform the part of an impulse. The presence of these dispositions depends not upon the circumstances in which a man is placed, but upon the degree of intellectual energy bestowed upon the question how far duty or interest is involved. This, therefore, establishes the intellectual origin of the impulse. Kant's Metaph. of Ethics, p. 60, and p. 120. It is at this point that there lies the explanation of what appears the singular utterance of Mr. Mill, in objecting to the saying 'that my conscience prevails over my desires,' when he adds,—' as if conscience were not itself a desire the desire to do right.'-Exam. p. 567.

10. All these impelling forces are original powers of our nature, not to be accounted for by any process of development. Desires and Affections, as inferior to Judgments, may be said to lie in the line between sensation and intelligence. Yet, so far are they from being stages of development towards intelligence or intermediate forces by means of which intellect may be evolved, that physical desires are dependent on our organism, while mental desires presuppose intelligence as the con

dition of their experience. Neither continuance of a particular feeling, nor growing intensity of it, nor combination of various feelings, can account for Desires or Affections.

11. PROBLEMS. (1.) Granting that Judgments are formal expressions of Truth, can they be at the same time Impulses to action? (2.) If a Moral judgment awaken reverence for moral law, is the judgment in that case the spring of action, or the reverence, or both together? (3.) Granting that some judgments are impulses to action, should judgments of obligation, when viewed in this relation, be held to constitute a class distinct from judgments of rightness}

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