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362 w. H. FAIRBEOTHER: enough to possess a well-recognised class name the In- continent, ol cucpareis : in regard to them we despairingly cry, " When water sticks in a man's throat what can he drink to wash it down?" 1 But we ought not to despair. Their case must admit of that intelligible explanation which is the preliminary step to a practical remedy. One fact, indeed, which theoretically adds to our difficulties, gives us practi- cally a hope of solution, viz. : that not only does the incon- tinent man know what is right in the given case, he (in some sense at least) proposes to do it. He does not, it is true, carry out this purpose, he acts Trapa rrjv Trpoaipe&iv, but at least, until he falls actually into the temporary abnormal condition called Incontinence, both his intellectual conviction and moral purpose are on the right side. How comes it then that a man can do something which, at the time, he knows to be wrong and, in fact, would rather not do ? The problem, Aristotle sees clearly, is mainly a psycho- logical one. Before, however, attempting to estimate his answer to this puzzling question it will be well to put clearly before our minds one or two considerations which will help us to understand the exact shape it took in Aris- totle's own mind. In this way we shall not only clear the ground but definitely limit the discussion to the exact point at issue an advantage which no one who has ever sought for assistance among Aristotelian commentators will regard lightly. In the first place, all difficulties arising from the modern question of the ' Freedom of the Will ' may be ignored. Quite generally, it is obvious that the Incontinent man has no ' Will ' to speak of, and that all explanation (which is not purely negative) must be sought for in positive psycho- logical, or physiological, elements which he admittedly possesses. More particularly it is clear that the ' Will,' as we understand it, was not an Aristotelian conception at all. He has no word for it and does not use it in Moral or Psychological problems. His material consists of elements called ' Reason ' and ' Feeling,' and these are conceived of in a simple, natural manner. Eeason gives us conceptions, ideas, ' ends ' Feeling affects us pleasantly, or otherwise, and has kinetic power. Further, it is important, in view of current writing 2 upon 1 Cf. N. E., vii., 2, 10. 2 1 refer to commentators such as Grant, and more particularly to the more thorough critical expositions of writers like Eassow, Dr. Stewart and Prof. Cook Wilson.