Instinct And Reason - An Essay Concerning The Relation Of Instinct To Reason, With Some Special Study Of The Nature Of Religion

INSTINCT AND REASON AN ESSAY CONCERNING THE RELATION OF INSTINCT TO REASON, WITH SOME SPECIAL STUDY OF THE NATURE OF RELIGION - 1898 - PREFACE - THE writing of this book was first uidertaken because I wished to present the conception of Ileligion, which will be found below. In attempting to make my argument convincing I have found it necessary to deal with questions which did not at first appear to relate to the subject I wished to discuss, ancl the study of Religion thus appears as a subsidiary part of the broader treatment of Instinct ancl Reason the reader will readily perceive, however, that it still remains the most important and rnost interestir g matter considered. It has long seemed to me evident that activities which are so universal in man as are those which espress our religious life, cannot fail to be of significance in relation to our biological development, especially as these activities have persisted for so many ages in the human race. I have, therefore, attempted to outline a theory which will account for the existence of religions activities, ancl which will explain their biological import. In order to present this clearly I have thought it best 1 I find the views here presented in t, heir main outlines in my notes under date of 1885. to make a special study of Instinct, to which the second division of the book is devoted, to show the relation of religious activities to instinctive activities in general. This study of Instinct naturally leads to the study of Impulse in division III., and this turns our thought to a consideration of the nature of rnoral standards which we all acknowledge to be most closely related to religious activities. In like manner the study ofReason, while natural in connection with the study of Instinct, has also its appropriateness in connection with the consideration of the nature of Religion. I have not attempted to enter fully into discussions concerning the genesis of religious customs and beliefs, a field which has perhaps been already sufficiently explored I have touched upon such discussions only so far as has seemed to me necessary in order to bring into clear relief the facts relating to the function of religion in the development of man. T at first intended to devote a separate division of the book to a study of the relation of religion t, o belief but this T find unnecessary to the conlpleteness of the argument, and I have therefore abandoned it for the present at least those who read with care will perceive, I imagine, that if the doctrines here presented be accepted, such acceptance will in no way militate against the importance of the beliefs which are attached to religious expressions. I have some hope that apart from their relation to religious problems the considerations concerning Instinct and Reason may not be without value to the psychologist. A large proportioil of the subjects considered are, however, of such general interest, and are by common agreement of such profound importance, that I have attempted to discuss them, so far as possible, without having recourse to the technicalities of psychology such distinctly psychological discussions as are necessary to the argument I have therefore reserved for consideration in separate chapters, which the reader will easily recognise by their titles. As science advances iridividurtl investigators become less and less important, and although I have madefrequent references in foot-notes, I nevertheless feel that these are altogether inadequate as an acknowledgnle lt of my indebtedness to those tvho have taught me...