228 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORGANISM 



mechanical sense. But, even then, entelechy is an " agent " 

 or a " factor " in nature, entelechy is a something acting 

 univocally with regard to the inorganic, as we know, and 

 therefore there must be something in this relation that is 

 comparable with the principle of reaction in a general 

 logical sense though beyond inorganic causality. For all 

 becoming not true causality alone- -must always be 

 conceived under the form of a mutual interaction. When- 

 ever a factor A affects B, not only is B affected but so is 

 also A. With regard to pure causality this principle holds 

 irrespective of all our special definitions of a " cause," almost 

 all of them being formulated with reference to practical 

 purposes. 1 I believe now that we can easily find out how 

 to relate the concept of a " reaction * to entelechy. 

 Entelechy when performing any act in a system becomes 

 changed with regard to its intensive actuality by this act 

 itself ; the " having done " changes its " doing," for doing is 

 no longer necessary after having done. Thus entelechy is 

 affected by the accomplishment of its own performance, in 

 acting as well as in morphogenesis. We here meet the first 

 case in which any kind of affection of entelechy occurs. 



fi. THE TYPES OF AFFECTION OF ENTELECHY 



We now turn to a short survey of the possible ways in 

 which entelechy may be affected by a mere change in 

 inorganic nature as such. 



1 Conip. vol. i. p. 99 ti'., and vol. ii. p. 158 f!'. 



