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508 B. R. MABETT : no better way of calculating the actually possible than this, its measure of human capacity being as regards the past based on its idea of the greatest success achieved, and as regards the future on that of this same success as modified by certain conditions as yet not given. Thus the features of the Norm that are selected for formal, that is, general, characterisation are precisely those which call attention least to its inadequacy in regard to the circumstances of this or that moment. If therefore it be found suggestive and convenient as, I think, Clifford's brilliant handling of the idea has amply demonstrated it to be to treat of this Norm as immanent in a distinctive Self or group of psychic activities, then such a Self may truly be described by Formal Ethics as normal as embodying the norm or type of moral perfection that we ought to try to realise in our lives not merely on ideal grounds, that is to say, in consideration of its final purpose -of what it would be if it could, but like- wise on ' evolutionary ' or historical grounds, that is, in consideration of its actual capacity to provide man with a conception, true and sufficient as far as it goes, of his possible Best. This Best, as we have already seen, it presents in the general form of a progressive harmonisation of the two sets of radical tendencies that make respectively for justice to others and justice to the individual self. Given this general conception of an immanent moral Norm, it ought to be possible for Ethical Keflexion to furnish it at any given moment with a content of moral rules that should with a certain relative degree of accuracy and completeness accord with present needs. In other words, it ought to be possible to satisfy the respective claims of the co-operative and the competitive sides of healthy human nature in proportion as each is broadly justified by the actual state of society. In direct opposition and contrast to the idea of the Normal Self will be that of the Abnormal Self as embodying all those tendencies which it is our moral interest to strive to suppress and annihilate in ourselves. Now we have seen that the Normal Self is not the product of a single group of instincts, nor again the outcome of the mere juxtaposition of the two main groups of instincts, the co-operative and the competitive, but is rather a complex of these instincts welded together into relative harmony by Habit, by Tradi- tion, and -most characteristically of all by Reasoned Choice. Accordingly neither must the Abnormal Self be sought in mere instinct, whether individualistic or otherwise. It is no exclusive product of Atavism so-called, but is the ' bye-pro- duct ' caused by every possible kind of unfortunate variation,