ix ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 177 



which it as a psycho-physical individuality has itself 

 been an agent in building up. 



Similarly, our argument runs, an animal with a big 

 brain, i.e. a well-developed capacity for experimental 

 behaviour, is free as compared with a starfish. By care- 

 ful study we can reduce the experimental indeterminism , 

 which increased as evolution advanced, and we can pre- 

 dict with some success what our dog will do in a particular 

 situation. But we are likely to make a bigger mistake 

 than we made with our starfishes if Ave argue from our 

 dog to our neighbour's. And why ? 



The individuality of the dog is so much greater than 

 that of the starfish. It is ruled less by its general con- 

 stitution and much more by its cerebral constitution 

 (psycho-physical) which it has itself been an agent in 

 building up. Thus we see in the realm of organisms a 

 ladder of emancipations the evolution of free will. 



14. Purpose.- -The word purpose is sometimes em- 

 ployed to indicate use or significance, as when we ask 

 what the purpose of that strange implement may be, 

 but its chief usage is to indicate the intention, the antici- 

 pation, the endeavour of a living creature in any par- 

 ticular piece of behaviour. The wind blows the snow 

 into wreaths which are beautifully moulded, but we do 

 not credit the wind with purpose. The concept of pur- 

 pose is irrelevant in the domain of the inorganic, unless 

 we are thinking philosophically of the part that the 

 development of the inorganic world has played, and is 

 playing, in the evolution of the realm of organisms in 

 general, and of the kingdom of man in particular. But 

 to return to the wind playing with the snow, we do not 

 credit it with purpose, for the result is not adaptive, 

 there are no alternatives, there is no selection. If w r e 

 knew enough about the details we could account for the 

 \vhole result, perhaps without great difficulty, according 

 to the laws of dynamics. In the same way, we do not 

 feel it at all necessary to credit a river with purpose in 

 its work of making the bed in which it must flow. The 

 concept of purpose is not relevant in the domain of the 

 inorganic. 



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