Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/48

 There is no reason why we should give up our belief in moral responsibility. We do recognise the tremendous importance of heredity and environment. But we should not think of them as if it were possible to portion out character between them. We should avoid thinking of environment and heredity as if each excluded the other. It is not true that the more we attribute to environment the less must we ascribe to heredity, and vice versa. Life and character imply their interaction. When the influence of the one increases, it does not follow that the influence of the other must decrease. On the contrary, the richer the inheritance with which the child starts, the greater the influence the environment may exert. The inheritance of the limpet or whelk is meagre. If a Bible be introduced into its environment, it will be able to make no use of it. But a Bible in the environment of a man may lead him to change the whole course of his life. Yet, however potent the influence of heredity and environment in their interaction, they do not absolutely determine the child's life and conduct. Character, as we shall see more fully in a subsequent chapter, is the product of will. The child gradually makes his own character. It is his own; he and he alone is responsible for it.

Environment will not absolve a man of responsibility for his actions. Environment may provide temptations and difficulties, or strengthening associations and friendships; but from the moral standpoint all that this means is that it is supplying the instruments with which the individual himself will carry out the process of character-building. The