Preface, p. 5.] and agree that “it is not the weakening of impulse that is to be desired, but the direction of impulse toward life and growth,” [Footnote:  p. 18.  Cf. the whole of the first chapter on The Principle of Growth.] yet, we none the less assert that instinct is an insufficient guide in the determination of social behaviour, and ask how the direction of impulse, of which Mr. Russell himself speaks, is to be arrived at?  Surely our only hope lies in striving to make men not less, but more rational in order that they may grasp—­however dimly--something of what is implied in ethical and political ideals, that they may recognize in society some embodiment of will and purpose and come to look upon Thought and Reason as the unifying and organizing principles of human society.

We cannot help wishing that Bergson had given us some contribution to the study of Ethics.  In one of his letters to Father de Tonquedec regarding the relation of his philosophy to Theology, we find him remarking that “Before these conclusions [theological statements] can be set out with greater precision, or considered at greater length, certain problems of quite another kind would have to be attacked—­the problems of Ethics.  I am not sure that I shall ever publish anything on this subject.  I shall do so only if I attain the results that appear to me as demonstrable or as clearly to be shown as those of my other books.” [Footnote:  In Etudes (Revue des Peres de Jesus), Vol.  CXXX, pp. 514, 515, 1912.] Prior to the War, however, we know that Bergson was taking up the problem of working out the implications of his philosophy in the sphere of social ethics, with particular reference to the meaning of “Duty” and the significance of “Personality.”  Although his investigations of these supremely important problems have not yet been completed or made public, nevertheless certain ethical implications which have an important bearing on personal and social life seem to be contained in what he has already written.

In its application to social life, Bergson’s philosophy would involve the laying of greater stress upon the need for all members of society having larger opportunities of being more fully themselves, of being self-creative and having fuller powers of self-expression as free creative agents.  It would lay emphasis upon the value of the personality of the worker and would combat the systematic converting of him into a mere “hand.”  Thus would be set in clearer light the claims of human personality to create and to enjoy a good life in the widest sense, to enter into fuller sympathy and fellowship with other personalities, and so develop a fuller and richer form of existence than is possible under present social and industrial conditions.  It would mean a transvaluation of all social values, an esteeming of personality before property, a recognition of material goods as means to a good life, when employed in the social service of the spirit of man.  It would involve a denunciation