Dr. Darwin's supposition takes no notice of the moral law
and its influence; indeed he adopts[2] the view that conscience is no
sense of right and wrong, but only the stored up and inherited social
instinct, a sense of convenience and inconvenience to the tribe and to
the individual, which at last acts so spontaneously and rapidly in
giving its verdict on anything, that we regard it as a special sense. It
would of course be possible to expend much time and many words in
argument on this subject. There is not, and never will be, any direct
evidence as to the origin of conscience; and as that sense (like any
other power of our mental nature) is capable of being educated, evoked,
enlightened, and strengthened, and may also by neglect and contradiction
deteriorate and wither away, there is ample room for allowing a certain
part of the theory.[3] But many people who examine their own conscience
will feel that the description certainly does not suit them; there are
many things which conscience disapproves, of which no great evil
consequences to themselves or any one else are felt. Conscience is
constantly condemning "the way that seemeth good unto a man."
_Ultimately_ no doubt, there is real evil at the end of everything that
conscience warns a man against; but not such as "inherited experience"
is likely to recognize.
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