Published in 1915, this work was hailed by the New York Times as "a very readable volume [that] presents in the realm of ethics the author's implications of Freud's investigations in individual psychology." With the “wish” being what Freud considers the key to the mind, Holt discusses "The Doctrine of the 'Wish,'" "The Wish in Ethics," and "Some Broader Aspects of the Freudian Ethics."