ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE 213 



seems inadvisable in the absence of overwhelming evidence. 

 And such evidence does not exist. Mechanism is a fatalistic 

 doctrine, and fatalism whether promulgated under the garb 

 of science or theology exercises a pernicious effect upon 

 human conduct. 



The question of mechanism in behavior is only one phase 

 of the investigation of animal reactions at the present day. 

 The nature of pleasure and pain and their distribution in the 

 animal series is another problem which is theoretically inter- 

 esting and one which has practical bearings. Knowledge 

 and not emotion should be the basis for our consideration 

 of the feelings of animals. As yet we have no thorough- 

 going knowledge for the pleasure-pain problem, considering 

 the animal kingdom as a whole. 



Another problem which many be investigated independ- 

 ently of the problem of mechanism versus vitalism is the 

 origin and evolution of consciousness. By this is meant the 

 awareness or subjective experience which is the basic feature 

 of each human personality and which we infer as existing 

 in other human beings and in the mentality of the animals 

 most like ourselves. Two methods of investigating the prob- 

 lem of consciousness present themselves. The older intro- 

 spective method, which has not yet become obsolete, and 

 the newer method of comparative behavior. By the former 

 method we obtain the clue which leads to the formulation 

 of the kind of consciousness that presumably exists in our 

 fellow men and in the minds of animals. The comparative 

 study of animal behavior can yield a clue to what goes on 

 inside the animal mind, only when we interpret behavior in 

 terms of the results obtained by our own introspection. 

 Some modern investigators are content merely to describe 

 how the animal behaves in response to stimulation and to 

 put aside all consideration of the subjective states which 

 may be involved. To most of us the question of how the 

 awareness of the animal resembles our own consciousness is 

 too interesting a problem to be thus thrust aside. 



