2. By his experiences and training: which are his environment Therefore to cease from all action is impossible. Therefore it is nonsense to say that if we are creatures of heredity and environment we shall cease to act. But, it may be said, a man can cease from action: he has power to kill himself. Well: the earth has power to destroy itself if it is caused to destroy itself. And man cannot destroy himself unless he is caused to destroy himself. For the nature of a man--through heredity--is to love life. No man destroys himself without a cause. He may go mad, he may be in great grief, he may be disappointed, jealous, angry. But there is always a cause when a man takes his own life. And, be the cause what it may, it belongs to environment. So that a man cannot even take his own life until heredity and environment cause him to do it. But there is a second argument, to the effect that if we believe ourselves to be creatures of heredity and environment we shall cease to make any effort to be good, or to be better than we are. Those who use such an argument do not understand the nature and power of environment. Environment is powerful for good as well as for evil. Well. We have seen that it is impossible for us to cease to act. Now we are told that we shall cease to act well. But our acting well or ill depends upon the nature of our heredity and environment. If our heredity be good, and if our environment be good, we _must_ act well: we cannot help it. If our heredity be bad, and if our environment be bad, we must act ill: we cannot help it. "What? Do you mean to say I cannot be good if I try?" Is it not evident that you must have some good in you if you wish to try? That good is put there by heredity and environment. "But even a bad man sometimes tries to be good." That is slovenly thinking. 'A man who is _all_ bad has no desire for good. Any man who has a desire for good is not all bad. Therefore a man who is "bad" never tries to be good, and a man who tries to be good is not "bad." When it is said that a bad man tries to be good the idea is that a very imperfect man tries to be rather better. And he tries to be rather better because heredity or environment causes him to wish to be rather better. Before a man can wish to be good he must know what goodness is. All men are born destitute of knowledge. To know what goodness is he must learn. All learning is environment. But when a man knows what is good, and wishes to be good, he will try to be good. He cannot help trying. And he will try just as hard, and just as long as his temperament and training cause him to try; and he will succeed in being just as good as his temperament and training cause him to be. And his temperament is heredity, and his training is environment.