original thinker who is creating our
sciences, planning and executing the events of history, evolving a
system of ethics, or whether one is only learning these fields as they
already exist by means of study. Other things being equal, he is the
best thinker who has his knowledge related part to part so that the
whole forms a unified and usable system.

ASSOCIATION AND ACTION.--Association plays an equally important part in
all our motor responses, the acts by which we carry on our daily lives,
do our work and our play, or whatever else may be necessary in meeting
and adapting ourselves to our environment. Some sensations are often
repeated, and demand practically the same response each time. In such
cases the associations soon become fixed, and the response certain and
automatic. For example, we sit at the table, and the response of eating
follows, with all its complex acts, as a matter of course. We lie down
in bed, and the response of sleep comes. We take our place at the piano,
and our fingers produce the accustomed music.

It is of course obvious that the influence of association extends to
moral action as well. In general, our conduct follows the trend of
established associations. We are likely to do in great moral crises
about as we are in the habit of doing in small ones.

2. THE TYPES OF ASSOCIATION

FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF ASSOCIATION.--Stated on the physiological side, the
law of habit as set forth in the definition of association in the
preceding section includes all the laws of association. In different
phrasing we may say: (1) Neurone groups accustomed to acting together
have the tendency to work in unison. (2) The more frequently such groups
act together the stronger will be the tendency for one to throw the
other into action. Also, (3) the more intense the excitement or tension
under which they act together the stronger will be the tendency for
activity in one to bring about activity in the other.

The corresponding facts may be expressed in psychological terms as
follows: (1) Facts accustomed to being associated together in the mind
have a tendency to reappear together. (2) The more frequently these
facts appear together the stronger the tendency for the presence of one
to insure the presence of the other. (3) The greater the tension,
excitement or concentration when these facts appear in conjunction with
each other, the more certain the presence of one is to cause the
presence of the other.

Several