ABSTRACT
Irving Babbitt's doctrine of the ethical basis of man's search for reality is, among other things, a contribution to the development of a new theory of knowledge. Babbitt points out that human experience and over the centuries, provides a vast array of evidence regarding the nature of man, including evidence of a universal moral order. The happy life of the mean described in The Nicomachean Ethics is achieved gradually, not simply through intellectual deliberation, but primarily through ethical action that transforms character. Inasmuch as Babbitt regards ethical action as the final answer to questions of reality, it is necessary to examine in some depth his idea of the higher will, or "inner check," a subject poorly understood by most of his interpreters. Babbitt wholeheartedly agrees that civilization is marked by the diversity of emphasis and perspective of those who contribute to it.
