Introduction

Human behaviour, particularly behaviour that is morally relevant, is certainly influenced to a great extent by sociological factors. Most of us are taught from our early childhood to do things that are usually approved of in the society we live in and not to do things that are disapproved of. Our attitudes, dispositions, and character grow almost imperceptibly through an interplay of many different factors, some being of the nature of innate tendencies, others arising from particular circumstances; they do not come to exist as a result of a plan consciously made by ourselves. But the generalizations of psycho-analysis are sweeping. The only adequate justification for postulating unconscious determining forces (in the psycho-analytical sense) is the presence in a person of behaviour difficulties of a compulsive type. If people have superior capabilities or are fortunate in the circumstances of life, some ways of behaving required by the moral point of view come relatively easily to them.