164 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORGANISM 



of physics, and also in chemistry. There is nothing 

 actually stated or measured in the case of all these potential 

 energies : it is simply assumed that there must be a some- 

 thing representative of quite a definite amount of " ergs " 

 in order that actual energy may not seem to arise out of 

 nothing. We therefore may properly call all sorts of 

 potential energies subsidiary : they are " real," so far as 

 possibilities can be regarded as real in ontology, but they 

 never are immediately real in any sense. 1 In this meaning- 

 there " is " a certain amount of potential energy whenever 

 a pendulum reaches one of its highest points. This amount 

 is regarded as equal in quantity to the " work ' performed 

 by the pendulum whilst overcoming gravity, which " work >; 

 again is equal to the kinetic energy of the pendulum at 

 its lowest point. Quite the same holds with regard to all 

 the other natural agents mentioned above, the concept 

 " work " having a more or less figurative meaning in these 

 cases. 



13. THE PRINCIPLE IN ITS RELATION TO ENTELECHY 



After these preparatory discussions we now may ask : 

 firstly, how stands entelechy to the principle of the con- 

 servation of energy, and secondly, how stands entelechy to 

 the concept of energy itself ? 



It is clear from the beginning that contradiction to 



1 Empiricists often claim that potential energies are really proved to 

 "exist" by the fact that it always is the same amount of measurable energy 

 which enters into the potential forms, and which is able to arise from them. 

 But it is clear that this "fact " rests simply upon the general principle of the 

 uuivocality of nature, and that, if it should not prove to be empirically true, 

 we by no means should abandon the conservation principle, but should 

 invent as many more supplementary energies as were necessary. 



