The correlation is so close that we might be tempted to identify them, but we soon discover discrepancies. Thus extreme emotion tends to paralyse impulse, while swift and effective im- pulse seems (to put it paradoxically) to satisfy emotion before it is fully excited. Furthermore, if the impulse does not satisfy the feeling it may be suspended or reversed. When the timid crea- ture who cannot escape pursuit turns to bay, the flight impulse is discarded as an unfaithful servant, and fear itself elects to fight. Feeling and impulse, though doubtless rooted in the same fundamental susceptibilities and requirements, are distinct branches on the stem, and do not operate on the same lines or on identical conditions. We can best understand their relations by considering the conditions of their development.
According to the general evolutionary the- ory, the structure of an organism grows up under the conditions of the struggle for existence. That is to say, organs useful not only to the individual, but to the stock in that struggle tend to be pre- served, and therefore to develop, while organs that are useless or injurious tend to atrophy and disappear. What is true of physical organs will also be true of psychological functions, in as far as psychological functions determine the be-
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Publication Information: Book Title: The Rational Good. Contributors: L. T. Hobhouse - author. Publisher: H. Holt and Company. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1921. Page Number: 32.
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