Sat,—Mr. Rumbold writes: " What we do and what we
are, are deter- mined by our hereditary dispositions," and, a few lines further on, continues, " if our view of the universe and our adult behaviour are conditioned 'by heredity and by these antecedent states of mind, how can we enjoy freedom of action, &c.? " But surely there is a difference between actions being determined and fixed and their being conditioned or limited.
Our unconscious reflex actions may be determined by physical causes or even by habits, but habits are mainly the result of previous acts of free will, and, of course, all our free actions are limited by external conditions. However much I try, I shall not be able, for instance, to fly like a bird.
It is curious that the aim of Freud in the therapeutic side of his work, for which he is so justly famous, should be directed towards the recovery of the freedom of the.will from inhibiting obstacles, while when theorising he writes : " I have already taken the liberty of pointing out that in each one of you there is a deep-rooted belief in psychic freedom and volition, a belief which is absolutely unscientific, and which must capitulate before the claims of a determinism that controls even the psychic life." But can you take a liberty to point out that you have no liberty with which 89 Woodstock Road, Oxford. • P.S.—The quotation is from his General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Tr. G. Stanley Hall (Bone and Liveright, New York, 1920), p. 84.
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