Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/28

 character and conduct; examine the grounds on which conduct is regarded as right or wrong; and show how character is realised in actual conduct in performing the duties of a worthy station in the community.

At the beginning of Part I. we deal with the origin of character in the tendencies and capacities which the child inherits from his parents. But, if we say that the ultimate groundwork of character is provided by heredity, we must remember that, from the first, the tendencies and capacities which the child inherits are influenced by his physical and social environment (Chap. II.).

Next we consider the instincts with which the child starts life, and show how these are modified and developed to form the basis of the great institutions of the moral life (Chap. III.).

Then, along two main lines, we follow the development of character out of the instinctive origins of human behaviour.

First, we show that impulses, which may be regarded as instincts in their active or executive aspects, may be controlled and developed into desires, which are relatively permanent and pervade the whole of life (Chap. IV.).

Secondly, emotions, which in their origin appear at the instinctive level of human life, may be organised into sentiments, which have a profound influence on the evolution of conduct (Chap. V.).

But comprehensive as these sentiments and desires are, they may yet lead to conflict and disharmony in the moral life, unless they are unified in a permanent self. We accordingly have to