8 The Universe and Life 



important and distinctive features of the world that 

 are discovered through the study of living things. 



What outlook on the world, then, does one get by 

 the study of biology ? 



The materials of biological science — those constitu- 

 ents and aspects of the universe to which the biologist 

 devotes himself — differ so conspicuously from the ma- 

 terials of physical science that men have found it diffi- 

 cult to conceive the two as parts of the same universe. 

 Often the physicist's materials are alone taken as con- 

 stituting the "real" universe. On the other hand, some 

 have ascribed reality only to the distinctive matters 

 with which the biologist deals. What sort of an outlook 

 do we get if we include both in our view.^^ 



The special peculiarities of the material studied by 

 the biologist are seen in the fact that it is this material 

 that asks the questions : What outlook on the universe 

 does the study of biology yield .^^ And what is the rela- 

 tion of this to the outlook presented by the great reU- 

 gions ? And it is the biologist's material that attempts 

 to answer these questions. And again, it is from an 

 examination of this biological material, which asks and 

 answers these questions, that the biologist is to get his 

 answer to these questions. The biologist is his own 

 material — not all of it, but a sample of it. I am bio- 

 logical material; you are biological material. This 

 lecture, with myself expounding and yourselves lis- 

 tening and questioning and criticizing, is a typical 

 biological phenomenon. It is things of this sort, among 

 many others, that the biologist examines. 



