Page:Philosophical Review Volume 29.djvu/368

354 which personal ethics and social policy have to cope, is what, from the point of view of the individual applying them, may be termed their objective or factual reference. They call into play the ordinary criteria of factual truth that hold elsewhere in our judgment and behavior. They look to matters which, however difficult of access in particular cases, do not require for their estimation a readiness for any final judgment upon the actions which the voices one listens to may suggest. For just this reason they supply a test of authenticity and credit, so that the individual may know with what seriousness of consideration to receive the suggestions he may hear. In some degree, at least, they remove from his endeavor to order his life afresh, the hindrance of uncertainty as to what factors and considerations he ought to take account of in his reflection upon his problem, and they keep his preconceptions from unduly biassing the result.