Excerpt from Attempts at TruthWhat is right? And Why must I do what is right? - the question of the standard with that of the sanction of duty. But we need not authority to prove that in all action, whether called moral or otherwise, it is feeling that moves, while the function of reason is to direct motion. The inutility of mere intellect apart from moral force, the danger of strong emotion undirected by reason, are discernible everywhere in history and life.We may notice in passing the different degrees of esteem in which the two factors of moral action have been held in ancient and modern times. The conception formed of the Deity is a good criterion of the views of an age with regard to the hierarchy of the human faculties. If there be any one point on which modern theologians are agreed, it is that the moral nature of man is what chiey unites him to Deity. With Aristotle, however, it was voiic or intelligence only that formed the link between God and man. The moral virtues were unworthy to be ascribed to God.

On the other hand, numberless passages might be picked out from modern writers in which the superiority of the moral over the intellectual part of man's nature is taken for granted.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.