The Goulstonian lectures on some abnormal psychical conditions in children / by George F. Still.

  • Still, George Frederic, 1868-1941.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Goulstonian lectures on some abnormal psychical conditions in children / by George F. Still. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    8/58 (page 4)
    altogether beyond our gauge, and it is possible to obtain a more or less accurate and detailed history of the whole life of the individual, a point of extreme importance when the question of a congenital deficiency arises, as it will do in connexion with these cases : moreover, if there be any question of a morbid failure in the development of a mental process it can best be studied in the child, who is still at the age when, as we shall see, such development should be in progress. Whilst, therefore, I propose to consider generally the occurrence of defective moral control as a morbid con- dition in children, my particular object in this general survey is to determine what evidence there is on which we can base an answer to this question : Is diminution or defect of moral control in children ever the manifestation of a morbid mental state, apart from any such general disorder of intellect as is ordinarily recognised as imbecility, “ feeble-mindedness,” or insanity? and if so, under what conditions does it occur? It is obvious that such a disorder, if it exist, cannot be studied apart from its clinical phenomena, although some light may be thrown upon it by the consideration of the physical diseases or gross anatomical lesions which are associated with it in certain cases. Moral Control in the Normal Child. It is perhaps hardly necessary to define what is meant by “moral control.” For the psychologist it is “the control of action in conformity with the idea of the good of all,” and such a definition is at any rate sufficiently comprehensive for my purpose and may serve to correct the misapprehension which is apt to arise in consequence of the popular use of the terms “moral” and “immoral” to connote some sexual relation. The moral control to which I refer has a much wider significance, and its defect in any individual case may have, and indeed often has, no concern whatever with sexual relations ; at the same time I would point out that such a definition will cover, not only such activity as is concerned with the good of others, but also with the good of self—in other words, the moral control which I wish to consider is not only the altruistic but also the self-regarding. Moral control can only exist where there is a cognitive relation to environment. I use the term ‘ ‘ cognitive ” for lack of a better to imply that capacity for reasoning com- parison on which moral control is necessarily based : the term “ conscious ” would imply too little, the term “intelligent” would imply too much. Out of this cognitive relation arises a consciousness of the relation of every volitional activity on the part of the individual to the good of all and this we may call moral consciousness. Moral control is the control of activity in conformity with this moral conscious- ness. The capacity for reasoning comparison may be regarded as an intellectual capacity and moral consciousness,