A SURVEY OF THE PROBLEM OF 



VITALISM 



By HUGH ELLIOT 



The vitalistic problem has been so much discussed in the 

 course of the last few years that the time seems now to have 

 arrived for a general survey of the results of the controversy 

 and of the character of the arguments used on either side. 

 We know from experience that the usual effects of a con- 

 troversy upon those who take part in it is to fortify the 

 disputants in their original beliefs. Though they themselves 

 are not likely to be converted, yet the public who come to 

 the problem without bias are likely to be influenced by the 

 greater strength of the arguments on one side than the other ; 

 and as time goes on, the more weakly supported view declines 

 in popularity, while the opposite view if persistently and 

 repeatedly maintained in public attention comes to occupy the 

 entire field. In the present paper I do not propose to enter 

 at any length into controversial details : I propose to survey 

 the ground already traversed, to examine the type of arguments 

 employed, and to estimate the position now reached. 



A survey of this kind should naturally begin with a state- 

 ment as to what the problem is. From the very earliest 

 times, philosophers have discussed the special characteristics 

 of living bodies, and have endeavoured to establish a funda- 

 mental differentiation between organic and inorganic. They 

 have likewise attempted to draw sharp lines between human 

 beings and the rest of the animal world. They regarded the 

 universe as graded in successive and distinct orders of 

 priority: man, animals and plants, minerals. Between each 

 of these classes there was supposed to be complete discon- 

 tinuity. The theory of evolution broke down one of the great 

 divisions — that namely between men and animals ; and the 

 progress of science threatens speedily to break down the 

 other great division — that between the organic and the in- 

 organic. 



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