Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/384

368 W. H. FAIRBROTHEE : ' drags '. The incontinent man is not to blame for this in the first instance. He does not seek the temptation, he constructs of his own initiative no misleading syllogism. Left to himself he would go right, not wrong. He struggles to go right as it is and rues his fall bitterly afterwards, for he is a man of good intention, warm heart, and strong feeling. We might, perhaps, represent Aristotle's doctrine more clearly by the image of a pair of scales. Then, if our in- continent man be any ordinary workman, we should have, hanging at one end, the universal judgment, " Men, after work, should look after their wives and families," at the other, the judgment, "A pleasant supper with a mate on his birthday is most enjoyable ". [These do not, as a rule, con- flict, but, owing to some ' accidental ' domestic event, do so on the evening in question.] So far the scales are evenly balanced and the man, left to himself, would go home. But, unluckily, to the second, and wrong, universal, is attached a ' minor ' consisting not of a particular proposition but of a concrete fact, viz. : the warm pressure of a friendly arm, the sweet savour of a toothsome dish, the provoking glimpse of a black bottle, supported by sugar and a lemon, beyond the half-open cupboard door. These make up a serious addition to this end of the scale they tickle his nostrils, affect his muscles, they physically ' move ' him. The universal judg- ment, at the other end, still ' speaks,' but the desire produced by the concrete particular ' drags ' (eyei . . . dyet) ; and there can be no doubt which end of the scale will kick the beam. There is a ' struggle ' doubtless its length and severity depending upon the individual case, for men differ in degree of incontinence, and temptations differ in strength but that ' universal ' which is ' active ' (evepyel) in a concrete fact is bound to win, unless something, equally practically effective, can be attached to the universal at the other end of the scale. If the latter happen to be the case to begin with, no incontinence takes place at all. The man's heart is in the right place, and the mere presence, on a Bank Holiday, of ' loving wife or sweetheart kind ' ensures with ease conduct which, without that physical presence, might seem impossible. With what Justice, then, can the incontinent man be held morally blameworthy for his actions'? The forces which act upon him are not of his own choosing ; they come upon him from the outside, and, in default of that ' trained Habit ' which his softer nature prevents his possessing, he is bound to move, or rather ' be moved,' along the line of least re- sistance. Does not the explanation just given prove too