SECTION III. Origin of the Mental Dispositions. NOT the nature of the mental powers only, but their origin, or the cause of their existence also, has constantly been an object of investigation. Philosophers have never differed in opinion upon the vegetative qualities of man. His digestion, circulation, respiration, and various secretions and excretions, are natural functions, and cannot be acquired by will nor intelligence; but, in regard to the origin of the mental powers, many, and different opinions, have been, and are still, entertained. According to some, man is every thing by nature; to others, there are a few general fundamental faculties which produce all particular manifestations; whilst others, again, hold that man is born without any determinate disposition, a tabula rasa, or blank sheet, and that his faculties are the result of external impressions both natural and artificial. Let us examine these different opinions, and see how far each is exaggerated. CHAPTER I. Man is every thing by Nature, or, all is innate in Man. According to the philosophers of antiquity, we look in vain for qualities in man which are not given to him from birth. This language was used both by profane and religious writers. Plato, in his Republic, considers philosophical and mathematical talents, memory, and the sentiments of pride, ambition, courage, sensuality, &c., as innate. Hippocrates, in treating of the qualities necessary for a physician, speaks of natural and innate dispositions. Aristotle, in his work on Political Science, adopts the principle, that some are born to govern and others to obey. Quintilian said, 'If precepts could produce eloquence, who would not be eloquent?' Cicero, Seneca, &c. were of opinion that religion is innate; so thought Lavater also. Herder* considered man's sociability, his benevolence, his inclination to venerate a superior being, his love of religion, &c. as innate. Condillac † says, 'Man does not know what he can do, till experience has shown what he is capable of doing by the force of nature alone; therefore, he never does any thing purposely till he has once done it instinctively. I think this observation will be found to be permanent and general. I think also that, if it had been duly considered, philosophers would have reasoned better than they have done. Man makes analyses only after having observed that he has analyzed. He makes a language after having observed that he had been understood. In this manner poets and orators began before they thought of their peculiar talents. In one word, all that man does he did at first from nature alone. Nature commences, and always commences well. This is a truth that cannot be repeated too frequently.' 'When the laws,' says he in another passage, are conventions, they are arbitrary. This may be the case; and, indeed, there are too many arbitrary laws; but those which determine the morality of our actions cannot be arbitrary. They are our work in as far as they are conventional; but we alone did not make them; nature dictated them to us, and it was not in our power to make them otherwise than they are. The wants and faculties of man being given, laws are given also; and, though we make them, God, who created us with such wants and such faculties, is, in fact, our sole legislator. In following these laws conformably to nature we obey God; and this is the completion of the morality of our actions.' The ancient institution of castes, or tribes, in eastern countries, shows that endeavors were made to preserve the purity of the The prejudice of nobility in certain families can be explained only by admitting the innateness of dispositions. races. The religion of Christ also recognises the innateness of the * Ideen zur Geschichte der Philosophie der Menschheit. Th. 1. S. 252. Loc. cit. p. 55. faculties. According to it, all is given from above. A man can receive nothing, except it be given to him from Heaven.'* 'No one can come unto me except it were given to him by my Father.'t 'Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.' 'All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.'§ St. Paul says, When the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves which show the word of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.' || The doctrine of predestination is also conformable to the opinion that every thing is innate. Pious persons implore the influence of God and of various spirits. The doctrine of divine grace also agrees with the principle that man has natural gifts. Thus the principle of innateness is obvious, and has been admitted from the remotest antiquity; but what it is that is innate, and how it is so, are points not sufficiently known. Before I examine them, however, I shall rectify the two other notions, already mentioned, in regard to the origin of the faculties of the mind. CHAPTER II. A few general Faculties produce all particular Dispositions. Philosophers, at all times, have had a great fondness for general conceptions. They have shown the same liking in their explanation of the causes of our actions. A certain activity of the mind is commonly admitted as necessary to profit being made of external. impressions; but some general modes of action have seemed sufficient to account for all the particulars. * John, iii. 27. † John, vi. 65. Rom. ii. 14. 15. + Matt. xiii. 9. 1. Wants and pleasure produce our Faculties. The expression Want is here taken as synonymous with desire. This general term, however, designates no determinate faculty, but the effect of each power being active; there are as many wants, or desires, as fundamental faculties, and these wants are proportionate to the activity of the faculties. Those, therefore, who speak of wants, in this sense, must specify them, and point out their individual causes. For it cannot be the same cause which finds pleasure in construction and in demolition; in benevolence and in cruelty; in righteousness and in sensual enjoyments; in the study of history and of mathematics; in poetry and in ascetic contemplations, &c. Thus the general proposition of philosophers, that desire of pleasure and aversion to pain produce our actions, must be rectified. The pleasures are different, and effects of individual active faculties; these then must be made known, and the objects of their satisfaction indicated. 2. Attention is the cause of our Faculties. Attention is very commonly considered as the cause of all internal faculties. Helvetius even said, that each well-organized person might exercise his faculties by means of his attention, with such success as to arrive at the first rank in society. The word attention as I have shown, has two acceptations: it denotes consciousness in general; and consequently, in this sense, accompanies the activity of every faculty; and it explains why one animal or man pays great attention to one object, and very little or none to another; why individuals are attentive to different objects, even according to sex and age; and why attention is proportionate to the activity of the respective faculty, so that, if the senses be not exercised, much stronger impressions are required to arouse their attention. The attention, therefore, of every faculty may be cultivated and improved by its exercise; but attention, as a general quality, cannot be the appanage of any particular power. Moreover, as attention also denotes a distinct consciousness, a reflection on sensations and actions, the aptitudes and instincts of animals cannot certainly be its effect in this signification. No one will maintain, that the rabbit, badger, mole, marmot, or hamster, make burrows, because they have examined with attention the advantages of such dwellings; or that the beaver builds a cottage, because it has studied the laws of mechanics. Among men, geniuses also burst forth quite unconscious of their talents. This kind of attention then may excite, but can never produce, the particular faculties. 3. Understanding is the cause of our Faculties. This proposition is also cleared up by Phrenology. The affective powers must be separated from the intellectual faculties, and there are several sorts of understanding, and each special power, affective or intellectual, is a fundamental gift, in the same way as each external sense. 4. The Will is the cause of our Faculties. This opinion is refuted by daily observation. Who can doubt that every thinker as well as every dreamer in philosophy has occasionally felt the limits of his faculties, and has done things disapproved of by reason. What had then become of the will? I do not agree with those who object, that man is degraded by having his actions explained. Those who use such language seem to me to speak without attaching any meaning to their words. Is man degraded by having it said, that he must submit to the laws of the creation? Can he change the laws of his organization, of his senses, of his understanding, or alter the principles of music, algebra, &c.? Were man degraded by a determinate nature, all beings are so, even God himself, seeing that, by his nature, he cannot will evil, nor do an injustice. Now, if God act according to his nature, man cannot be degraded by laws dictated to him by the Creator, |