The duty of no
man can exceed his capacity' (i. 102). As to Godwin's
necessarianism, it is perhaps hardly worth while to cite passages in
order to explain it. It is of the usual type, incontrovertible if
the question is to be settled by common logic. 'Volition is that
state of an intellectual being in which, the mind being affected in
a certain manner by the apprehension of an end to be accomplished, a
certain motion of the organs and members of the animal frame is
found to be produced' (i. 297). 'A knife has a capacity of cutting.
In the same manner a human being has a capacity of walking, though
it may be no more true of him than of the inanimate substance, that
he has the power of exercising or not exercising that capacity' (i.
308). 'A knife is as capable as a man of being employed in the
purposes of virtue, and the one is no more free than the other as to
its employment. The mode in which a knife is made subservient to
these purposes is by material impulse. The mode in which a man is
made subservient is by inducement and persuasion.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206