w that we believe them to have been not merely
fortunate or unfortunate, but praiseworthy or blameworthy. So far as we
suppose their wills to have been influenced by circumstances beyond their
control, we regard them with diminished approval or censure. On the other
hand, we give the highest praise to those who have chosen the good amidst
strong temptations to evil, and bestow the severest censure on those who
have done evil with virtuous surroundings and influences. Now our judgment
of others must of necessity be derived from our own consciousness, and if
we regard and treat them as freely willing beings, it can only be because
we know that our own wills are free.

These arguments, all derived from consciousness, can be directly met only
by denying the validity of consciousness as a ground of belief. The
opposing arguments are drawn from sources independent of consciousness.

1. The most obvious objection to the freedom of the human will is derived
from the power of motives. It is said, We never act without a motive; we
always yield to the strongest motive; and motives are not of our own
creation or choice, but are brought to bear upon us independently of our
own action. There has been, from the creation until now, an unbroken
series of causes and effects, and we can trace every human volition to
some anterior cause or causes belonging to this inevitable series, so
that, in order for the volition to have been other than it was, some
member of this series must have been displaced.

To this it may be answered:--

(_a_) We are capable of acting without a motive, and we do so act in
numberless instances. It was a common saying among the Schoolmen, that an
ass, at equal distances from two equal bundles of hay, would starve to
death for lack of a motive to choose either. But have we any motive
whatever in the many cases in which we choose--sometimes after the vain
endeavor to discover a ground of preference--between two equally valuable,
beautiful, or appetizing objects, between two equally pleasant routes to
the same terminus, or between two equally agreeable modes of passing a
leisure day or hour? Yet this choice, made without motive, may be a
fruitful cause of motives that shall have a large influence in the future.
Thus, on the route which one chooses without any assignable reason, he may
encounter persons or events that shall modify his whole plan of life. The
instances are by no means few, in which the most decisive