Section 3: The Individual Determinants of Free-Will

Man as an individual is constituted by a material body and a spiritual soul,¹ and endowed with impulses and inclinations which give rise to definite temptations, virtues, and vices. The individual determinants of free-will are chiefly three: 1. AGE. —Age exercises a notable influence on the human organism and offers to the will a special field in which to exert itself. Though the individual continues the same, and his personality is essentially unaffected by age, the differences wrought by the latter are so far-reaching that moral science must take account of them.

¹ See Scholastic Psychology and Pohle-Preuss, The Author of Nature and the Supernatural, 2nd ed., St. Louis 1916, pp. 124 sqq.

Each age has its peculiar ethical tasks and problems. ² In infancy man is almost completely ruled by egoism, but the egoism of the child has a redeeming feature in his ready submission to God (faith) and parents (filial love, pietas).³ In early childhood the operation of the will, so far as it acts independently, is negative rather than positive, characterized by a tendency to obstinacy, destructiveness, and cruelty.

² 1 Cor. XIII, 11; Tit. II, 1-6; John II, 12-14.

³ Cfr. Matth. XVIII, 1-6; XIX, 13-15; Mark X, 13-16; Matth. XI, 25. —St. Jerome, Ep., 52 (al. 2), n.

³ (Migne, P. L., XXII, 528); W. Preyer and K. L. Schafer, Die Seele des Kindes, 8th ed., Leipsic 1908; R. Gaupp, Die Psychologie des Kindes, Leipsic 1908.

The period of adolescence is marked by a struggle between liberty and control. Though very receptive at first, the boy soon begins to assert himself against his elders. He is inclined to follow the bent of his sensual nature, to enjoy himself, to substitute knowledge for faith, to criticize and doubt, to engage in airy speculations, to waver to and fro between optimism and pessimism, hope and despair. Over against these tendencies are the faculty and inclination to labor, to cultivate tender sentiments, and to seek noble ideals. Unless these faculties are properly trained, the young man is liable to become an egoist, a dreamer, and a sentimentalist.⁴

⁴ Cfr. Sophocles, Antigone, 705 sqq.; Horace, Ep., II, 3, 156 sqq. (De Arts Poetica)', I, 2, 67 sq.; Homer, Ilias, III, 108; IV, 320.

Manhood, the age of maturity, is marked by full control of the vital energies, by a certain fixity of both the bodily and the intellectual type, and by a preponderance of the active over the receptive faculties. The peculiar dangers that beset middle life are pride, vainglory, isolation, heartlessness and obtuseness of mind resulting from untoward experiences. These perils can be avoided by cultivating a strong sense of duty and devoting oneself to the service of God and one's fellowmen and to the contemplation of nature. ⁵ Thus each succeeding period of life has its peculiar ethical stamp; each its special dangers and pitfalls; each its own capacity for virtue. This truth is exemplified in the lives of the saints, who belong to every age, clime, and condition.

⁵ Cfr. Job XII, 12-13; Prov. XVI, 31; Ecclus. XXV, 6-8; Wisd. IV, 8-9.—J. Ehring, Des Priesters Greisenalter, Münster 1896, pp. 3 sqq., 59 sqq.

2. TEMPERAMENT. —By temperament we understand the peculiar physical and mental character of an individual. The ancients enumerated four types —the sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric (or bilious), and melancholic. None of these temperaments is found unmixed in any one individual. Nevertheless, as the temperaments contain the germs of definite inclinations and tendencies, a study of them is of great importance for the formation of character. The temperaments undoubtedly influence the will, though by no means irresistibly. Besides, every man is more or less responsible for the faults peculiar to his temperament. Hence arises the duty of acquiring control over one's temperament and its idiosyncrasies. In this matter the Apostles furnish splendid models.⁶

⁶ Cfr. A. Fouillee, Temperament et Caractere selon les Individus, les Sexes et les Races, Paris 1895; P. Michel, Theologiae Moralis Principia, Vol. I, pp. 445 sqq.

3. NATURAL TALENT. —Talent is a special aptitude or faculty for effective action along certain lines. Talents differ and are differently distributed. Some men are more talented than others. Some are highly gifted in more than one respect, while others scarcely show any trace of talent at all. The presence or absence of special aptitudes necessarily influences man's intellectual and moral development, and hence is an ethical factor of considerable importance. A man's choice of vocation and his social standing are largely conditioned by his talents, and experience teaches that, as a general rule at least, the moral sense develops in proportion to the growth of intelligence.

However, while talent has a place among the individual determinants of free-will, its influence is by no means compelling. Whether endowed with many talents or few, great or small, man remains master of his actions. There is no hard and fast relation between morality and intellectual culture. Intellectually inferior men sometimes attain to great moral perfection. Moreover, man's ethical development depends upon other factors besides natural aptitudes. Even infidel savants admit that the low mental and moral state of many primitive races is the result, not of natural inferiority, but of a process of depravation.⁷ For some reason or other their natural faculties and aptitudes were not properly developed. The Catholic Church teaches that every normal human being is able to distinguish good from evil and to observe the more general or absolutely necessary precepts of the Gospel. It is this conviction that inspires Catholic missionary activity among the heathen. History testifies that nations which have attained to some degree of culture are more easily converted than those completely immersed in savagery.

⁷ Cfr. W. Schneider, Die Naturvölker, Vol. I, Paderborn 1885, pp. 3 sqq.; C. Gutberlet, Der Mensch, 2nd ed., Paderborn 1903, pp. 474 sqq.

READINGS. —J. B. Hirscher, Die christliche Moral, Vol. I, 5th ed., pp. 251 sqq.; Vol. II, 5th ed., pp. 268 sqq., 418 sqq. —C. Krieg, Die Wissenschaft der Seelenleitung, Vol. I, Freiburg 1904, pp. 99 sqq., 131 sqq. —A. Huber, Die Hemmnisse der Willensfreiheit, 2nd ed., Münster 1908, pp. 132 sqq. —M. Maher, S.J., Psychology, 4th ed., London 1900, p. 393. —T. Pesch, S.J., Instit. Psychologicae, § 1078 sq. —O. Brüssau, Die Temperamente und das christliche Leben, Hamburg 1906. —M. Maher, S.J., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 585.—A. C. O'Neil, ibid., XIV, 8. —A. Waldron, O.P., ibid., XV, 474. —F. Muszinski, Die Temperamente, Paderborn 1907. —A. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theologiae Moralis, Vol. II, Tournai 1905, pp. 65 sqq. —Fr. a Barbens, O. M. Cap., Introductio Pathologica ad Studium Theologiae Moralis, Tarracona 1917.