Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/69

 THE RELIGIOUS INSTINCT. 53 guidance of our actions to the production of certain ends is attained by the strengthening of certain trends of action which thus come to persist through many differences of stimulation and through many variations of reaction. This fact is illustrated by the instincts that relate to the foundation of the family, which act indirectly through many efforts tending to the accumulation of food or property by the man, and to protective care of the young by the woman : nobody hesitates to speak of the paternal instincts nor of the maternal instincts. It is illustrated again by reference to the ethical instincts which tend to bring about social consoli- dation ; and this through the most varied of actions that are often apparently guided by the most varied of conscious aims, which often seem to the actor to lead in any direction rather than towards the racial ends that we believe these social instincts subserve : we agreed that no one should hesitate to speak of the patriotic instincts nor of the bene- volent instincts. Now I think it will be evident to the reader that if the governing instinct for which we are searching exist at all it is likely to appear, as do all the higher instincts, as a most general trend of action running through many diverse forms of activity. We see therefore that in general we need not conclude that the activities which we surmise may relate to an end which we are considering are not of an instinctive nature because we find the trend of these activities difficult to trace in many ways or because the immediate end that Nature has in view is not instantly clear before our eyes. I am in complete agreement with Professor Lloyd Morgan when he cautions us that instinct actions must be care- fully separated from those actions which are attached to them by accumulated experience, or by imitation, or by " tradition " : nor can there be any question that with the actions we are discussing this separation is exceedingly difficult. But on the other hand I hold that even in cases where this separation is impossible in many directions, we are nevertheless warranted in suspecting the existence of a true instinct provided we are able to discover some bio- logical end which is subserved by the general trend of a series of varied activities. That we are able to discover the biological end which is subserved by the actions expressive of the religious feelings, I have already suggested. I shall hope to convince the reader of the correctness of this view in the next number of this series ; and this I shall attempt to do by the accumula-