﻿THE 
  UNIQUENESS 
  OF 
  LIFE 
  171 
  

  

  first 
  finds 
  the 
  differentia 
  of 
  organisms 
  in 
  the 
  greater 
  complexity 
  

   of 
  their 
  configurations 
  or 
  collocations 
  of 
  elementary 
  particles. 
  

   Living 
  creatures 
  are 
  apart, 
  but 
  they 
  do 
  not 
  require 
  new 
  concepts 
  

   (an 
  autonomous 
  science) 
  for 
  their 
  description. 
  They 
  only 
  require 
  

   separate 
  laboratories 
  fcr 
  their 
  study. 
  (2) 
  The 
  second 
  vitalistic 
  

   theoery 
  holds 
  that 
  organisms 
  have 
  a 
  monopoly 
  of 
  some 
  peculiar 
  phys- 
  

   ical 
  energy 
  or 
  energies 
  in 
  a 
  line 
  with, 
  say, 
  electricity. 
  (3) 
  The 
  

   third 
  theory 
  the 
  only 
  thoroughgoing 
  vitalism 
  postulates 
  a 
  non- 
  

   perceptual 
  vital 
  agency, 
  associated 
  with 
  organisms, 
  operating 
  

   actively 
  in 
  certain 
  cases, 
  directing 
  the 
  chemico-physical 
  processes, 
  

   so 
  that 
  their 
  results 
  are 
  different 
  from 
  what 
  they 
  would 
  have 
  been 
  

   apart 
  from 
  intervention. 
  The 
  finest 
  expression 
  of 
  this 
  view 
  is 
  

   Driesch's 
  doctrine 
  of 
  Entelechy, 
  the 
  advantages 
  and 
  difficulties 
  of 
  

   which 
  must 
  be 
  carefully 
  considered. 
  

  

  Perhaps 
  it 
  is 
  safer 
  to 
  be 
  content 
  with 
  a 
  descriptive 
  or 
  method- 
  

   ological 
  vitalism 
  that 
  is, 
  with 
  maintaining 
  that 
  in 
  describing 
  organ- 
  

   isms 
  we 
  require 
  ultra-mechanical 
  concepts. 
  But 
  if 
  the 
  word 
  vitalism 
  

   is 
  taken 
  to 
  imply 
  dualism 
  and 
  intervention, 
  we 
  may 
  call 
  our 
  posi- 
  

   tion 
  simply 
  biological 
  or 
  organismal. 
  The 
  central 
  idea 
  is 
  that 
  of 
  

   the 
  organism 
  as 
  a 
  psycho-physical 
  individuality 
  which 
  has 
  enreg- 
  

   istered 
  within 
  itself 
  the 
  gains 
  of 
  experience 
  and 
  experiment, 
  and 
  

   has 
  ever 
  its 
  conative 
  bow 
  bent 
  towards 
  the 
  future. 
  Instead 
  of 
  

   trying 
  to 
  interpolate 
  a 
  new 
  agency, 
  may 
  we 
  not 
  simply 
  recognise 
  

   that 
  organisms 
  reveal 
  certain 
  aspects 
  of 
  reality 
  which 
  are 
  not 
  

   apparent 
  in 
  the 
  domain 
  of 
  the 
  inorganic? 
  

  

  