The communists in Russia
would not propagate their faith with such unflagging zeal if economic
determinism were alone determining the opinion of the Russian people.
5
The socialist theory of human nature is, like the hedonistic calculus,
an example of false determinism. Both assume that the unlearned
dispositions fatally but intelligently produce a certain type of
behavior. The socialist believes that the dispositions pursue the
economic interest of a class; the hedonist believes that they pursue
pleasure and avoid pain. Both theories rest on a naive view of
instinct, a view, defined by James, [Footnote: _Principles of
Psychology_, Vol. II, p. 383.] though radically qualified by him,
as "the faculty of acting in such a way as to produce certain ends,
without foresight of the ends and without previous education in the
performance."
It is doubtful whether instinctive action of this sort figures at all
in the social life of mankind. For as James pointed out: [Footnote:
_Op. cit._, Vol. II, p. 390.] "every instinctive act in an animal
with memory must cease to be 'blind' after being once repeated."
Whatever the equipment at birth, the innate dispositions are from
earliest infancy immersed in experience which determines what shall
excite them as stimulus. "They become capable," as Mr. McDougall
says, [Footnote: Introduction to _Social Psychology_, Fourth
Edition, pp.
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