BOOK I. $ 72. The normal course of de the character. external action and volition, follow the same law as the emotions. They depend upon the energy of the movements in the nervous organism, and not upon velopment of the stage of elaboration which has been attained in the knowledge. Every generation apparently begins life at the same point of development, both in emotion and strength of will, as the preceding generation. There is no doubt some difference, but it is so small as only to become visible when we include a long series of generations in our view; and even then perhaps it is visible only in respect of emotion, and not in respect of strength of will. This difference between emotion and framework, man's nature and man's knowledge, which is seen clearly in the field of history, has its source in every individual who contributes to make history, and is to be traced in him by a careful analysis. 7. This being the general and constant relation between emotion and framework, and between the modes of their development, it is clear that a great and constant influence must be exerted by the framework over the emotion, in consequence of its continually progressive elaboration of structure, by which it becomes more complete and more harmonious. The pleasure of harmonising its parts, of introducing equal correspondences between them, both statically and dynamically, of making means correspond to end, theory to practice, reward to merit, punishment to fault, harvest to labour, career to ambition, and so on, is the motive of all this structural elaboration of framework so far as it is voluntary and not spontaneous, and practical rather than speculative. The formal element which is contained in the framework of images, with the pleasure of equality, the pain of Book I. CH. IV. § 72. course of development of the character. inequality, which are inherent in it, is the ground of the organic harmony which is both spontaneously and voluntarily produced in its constantly growing The normal structure. Hence, when we reflect upon past experience of life, the tendency always is to approve and cultivate those feelings which have a career before them, and those most the career of which is the longest, the most free from contradictions in itself, and the least exposed to obstacles from other feelings or external circumstances. A career is the imagined correspondence of the end to the beginning, the imagined completion and crown of a course of feeling, thought, or action. It has been shown in many instances how essential to continuance in any action is the imagination of such a career. Indeed we usually think any one senseless who perseveres in actions before which there is no career. Whenever a man does so, it is because he is either really senseless or else mastered for the time being by emotion or passion, a fact which entirely confirms our analysis. 8. Now we cannot teach or implant emotions not implanted by nature, but only cultivate what nature has implanted. Up to a certain point perhaps they may be increased in intensity by habit and indulgence, and by desuetude of other and particularly of the opposite emotions. To what extent this is possible is doubtful. But a natural deficiency in any of the cardinal emotions cannot be supplied, a natural redundance cannot be annihilated, by culture. Characters which are originally framed to feel very intensely either love, hatred, ambition or rivalry, pride or love of duty, will always strongly retain those tendencies. This is matter of daily experience. The explanation is, that these are emotional elements which BOOK I. $72. The normal course of de the character. depend on original cerebral structure and function. But the representational frameworks in which these are cast are moulded by self-education, and to some velopment of extent modify the emotional elements pervading them. According to its capacities for a career, every emotion can be taken up into justice with less loss of its distinguishing emotional feeling. The several capacities of the several emotions for a career have been given above. Love and the love of duty have alone an infinite career before them; they alone perfectly fulfil and more than fulfil the demands of justice. Hence, where they exist strongly by nature they need lose nothing of their intensity by education. But where they are deficient by nature they cannot be produced by education. The love of justice may be increased by culture, for this is an emotion attached directly to the formal element, and for that reason is the standard or rather the framework into which all other emotions must be cast or reduced. It grows in intensity by habit, like the rest, and its pleasure increases with its dominion; but it is very different from the love of duty and from love itself, and the education which makes us lovers of justice cannot give that special tinge of passionate ardour which their names connote. Similar is the case of the antipathetic emotions and passions, those of comparison, and that of pride. The tendency to these is original and cannot be either implanted or uprooted by culture, however much we may reflect upon the insufficiency, the contradictions, the necessary incompleteness, of these passions. All we can do, and this is what we do naturally, is to transmute them into those forms which are their justice, into indignation, chivalrous rivalry, personal honour. But if the emo tions are strong by nature, they will retain, even in their transformation, the passionate ardour of that special kind which they originally had. BOOK I. $ 72. The normal course of de the character. 9. The influence of age is twofold. Up to the velopment of prime of life, the increasing vigour of all physical movements both increases the intensity of the emotion and urges forward the construction of the framework; but the predominant emotion sets the end or purpose of the construction, and moulds it in accordance with its own nature. We reason vigorously, it is true, but, since the predominant emotion guides us, we reason speculatively and effectively, and act immanently and transeuntly, more than we reason teleologically. The predominant emotion with its desired scope and career is to us unquestioned, an absolute end; and the framework, with the reasoning powers which construct it, are to us as means, dominated by the emotion. But when the prime of life is passed, and the vigour of physical movements gradually decreases, the framework and the movements which support it assume by degrees a more important position towards the emotional element. The slow but continuous growth of knowledge, embodied in and depending on movements which are habitual, and from their interconnection with each other mutually supporting and promoting, becomes now a match for the passions and emotions, bound to physical movements which decrease in vigour without being consolidated by habit and interconnection. Hence declining life aids the process of transmuting all emotions and passions into the mould of justice, by softening their intensity; until at last upon the threshold of death in extreme old age the last spark of their fire is extinguished. The normal course of BOOK I. the development of character is therefore to subordinate the emotion to its framework, and, in so doing, to the law of that framework, which is harmony, equivelopment of poise, and justice. $ 72. The normal course of de the character. § 73. The poetic and "Poi nella quarta parte della vita A Dio si rimarita, Contemplando la fine che l'aspetta ; § 73. 1. There are two types of character still religious types. remaining to be examined, the poetic and the religious. I have postponed them to the enquiry into the normal course of development of character because, though original and implanted by nature in the cerebral structure and functions, they are also compound, springing from two natural sources not from one only, and therefore the knowledge of the course of development of character throws light upon their genesis. These types of character are the two branches of what may be called the imaginative tendency, which is never seen pure, but always appears as imagination of this or that object-matter. Now all imagination is imagination of a career, to idealise anything in imagination is to imagine an infinite career of perfection for it. Hence love and the love of duty, being the emotions which have an infinite career before them, are those which form one branch of reflective imagination; these original emotions are one source, and the naturally active disposition of intellect and emotion is the other, which in combination form the religious type of character. On the other hand, any emotion whatever may be combined with the imaginative disposition; and whatever emotion is so combined, without being so strong and absorbing as to hinder the free play of the in |