Page 2284 - war-and-peace

and less free the more correctly we connect the effects with
the causes. If we examined simple actions and had a vast
number of such actions under observation, our conception
of their inevitability would be still greater. The dishonest
conduct of the son of a dishonest father, the misconduct of a
woman who had fallen into bad company, a drunkard’s re-
lapse into drunkenness, and so on are actions that seem to
us less free the better we understand their cause. If the man
whose actions we are considering is on a very low stage of
mental development, like a child, a madman, or a simple-
tonthen, knowing the causes of the act and the simplicity
of the character and intelligence in question, we see so large
an element of necessity and so little free will that as soon
as we know the cause prompting the action we can foretell
the result.
On these three considerations alone is based the con-
ception of irresponsibility for crimes and the extenuating
circumstances admitted by all legislative codes. The respon-
sibility appears greater or less according to our greater or
lesser knowledge of the circumstances in which the man
was placed whose action is being judged, and according to
the greater or lesser interval of time between the commis-
sion of the action and its investigation, and according to the
greater or lesser understanding of the causes that led to the
action.

2284 War and Peace