﻿334 
  ADAPTIVENESS 
  AND 
  PURPOSIVENESS 
  

  

  ing 
  us 
  with 
  a 
  confidence 
  that 
  the 
  result 
  will 
  be 
  worth 
  having. 
  

   If 
  there 
  is 
  this 
  possibility 
  of 
  misinterpreting 
  purpose 
  within 
  

   our 
  own 
  species, 
  how 
  careful 
  must 
  we 
  be 
  when 
  we 
  pass 
  to 
  

   animal 
  behaviour. 
  

  

  We 
  see 
  a 
  crofter 
  making, 
  year 
  after 
  year, 
  a 
  long 
  line 
  

   of 
  the 
  stones 
  he 
  has 
  gathered 
  from 
  his 
  field. 
  We 
  infer 
  that 
  

   he 
  is 
  arranging 
  them 
  so 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  least 
  inconvenient. 
  But 
  

   one 
  day 
  he 
  digs 
  a 
  trench 
  beside 
  the 
  line 
  and 
  begins 
  to 
  lay 
  

   the 
  biggest 
  blocks 
  solidly 
  within 
  it. 
  We 
  know 
  that 
  he 
  is 
  

   going 
  to 
  build 
  a 
  wall. 
  Now 
  it 
  is 
  quite 
  possible 
  that 
  this 
  

   purpose 
  was 
  not 
  in 
  his 
  mind 
  when 
  he 
  began, 
  and 
  did 
  not 
  

   arise 
  until 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  stones 
  reached 
  certain 
  dimensions 
  

   or 
  until 
  his 
  clearance 
  gave 
  him 
  a 
  little 
  leisure 
  to 
  think 
  of 
  a 
  

   further 
  improvement. 
  This 
  idea 
  of 
  an 
  increasing 
  purpose 
  

   seems 
  to 
  be 
  of 
  great 
  importance 
  in 
  Natural 
  History, 
  where 
  

   a 
  secondary 
  end 
  often 
  appears 
  to 
  grow 
  out 
  of 
  a 
  primary 
  

   one. 
  

  

  We 
  inferred 
  that 
  the 
  crofter 
  was 
  building 
  a 
  wall 
  because 
  

   we 
  could 
  not 
  make 
  sense 
  of 
  his 
  activity 
  on 
  any 
  other 
  assump- 
  

   tion; 
  we 
  argued 
  by 
  analogy 
  from 
  our 
  own 
  experience; 
  and 
  

   if 
  we 
  knew 
  his 
  language 
  we 
  could 
  verify 
  our 
  interpretation 
  

   by 
  asking 
  him 
  what 
  he 
  was 
  working 
  towards. 
  He 
  would 
  

   tell 
  us 
  that 
  he 
  had 
  been 
  working 
  intermittently 
  for 
  years 
  

   because 
  he 
  had 
  the 
  purpose 
  of 
  building 
  a 
  wall. 
  The 
  thought 
  

   of 
  the 
  future 
  wall 
  was 
  something 
  actual 
  which 
  moved 
  the 
  

   crofter 
  to 
  will 
  and 
  to 
  do. 
  The 
  thought 
  and 
  the 
  will 
  were 
  

   in 
  a 
  real 
  sense 
  the 
  ground 
  of 
  necessity 
  of 
  the 
  wall, 
  not 
  less 
  

   real 
  than 
  the 
  stones. 
  

  

  But 
  the 
  convincingness 
  of 
  our 
  interpretation 
  of 
  the 
  crofter's 
  

   actions 
  as 
  the 
  outcome 
  of 
  his 
  purpose 
  rests, 
  we 
  must 
  admit, 
  

   on 
  our 
  recognition 
  of 
  him 
  as 
  a 
  fellow-countryman, 
  on 
  his 
  

   own 
  assurance, 
  and 
  on 
  parallels 
  between 
  his 
  behaviour 
  and 
  

  

  