DECISIONS OF PRINCIPLE

4.3.3 When the cabinet-maker has learnt how to make a dovetail without
thinking much about it, he will have time to think about such things as the
proportions and aesthetic appearance of the finished product. And it is the same
with our conduct in the moral sphere; when the performance of the lesser duties
has become a matter of habit, we have time to think about the greater.
There is a limit in practice to the amount that can be taught to someone by
someone else. Beyond this point, self-teaching is necessary. The limit is set by the
variety of conditions which may be met with in doing whatever is being taught;
and this variety is greater in some cases than in others. A sergeant can teach a
recruit almost all there is to be known about fixing bayonets on parade, because
one occasion of fixing bayonets on parade is much like another; but a driving
instructor cannot do more than begin to teach his pupil the art of driving,
because the conditions to be met with in driving are so various. In most cases,
teaching cannot consist in getting the learner to perform faultlessly a fixed drill.
One of the things that has to be included in any but the most elementary kinds of
instruction is the opportunity for the learner to make decisions for himself, and
in so doing to examine, and even modify to suit particular types of case, the
principles which are being taught. The principles that are taught us initially are
of a provisional kind (very like the principle 'Never say what is false' which I
discussed in the last chapter). Our training, after the initial stages, consists in
taking these principles, and making them less provisional; we do this by using
them continually in our own decisions, and sometimes making exceptions to
them; some of the exceptions are made because our instructor points out to us
that certain cases are instances of classes of exceptions to the principle; and some
of the exceptions we decide on for ourselves. This presents no more difficulty
than our clairvoyant had in deciding between two sets of effects. If we learn from
experiment that to follow a certain principle would have certain effects, whereas
to modify it in a certain way would have certain other effects, we adopt
whichever form of the principle leads to the effects which we choose to pursue.