70 The Universe and Life 



of life is that which is valuable ; and there is no other 

 basis for the concept of value aside from its reference 

 to life, no other basis for the notions of right and 

 wrong. That which is to be done is the right; that 

 which is not to be done is the wrong ; and the decision 

 as to how any act is to be classified lies in its relation 

 to the promotion of life. Value, right and wrong, and 

 related ideas, have validity and meaning only with 

 relation to life. For physics taken independently of 

 life these things have no meaning; in the universe 

 before life developed they had no existence. Their 

 final foundation lies in the experience of living beings. 



To determine what is to be done, what not to be 

 done ; in other words, to determine right and wrong, 

 is an insistent problem for all organisms; it is not 

 something that begins in man. The daily, the hourly, 

 occupation of most organisms — high or low — is the 

 seeking of conditions that are favorable for life and 

 the avoiding of conditions that are unfavorable. In 

 doing this, decisions are continually required as to 

 whether certain things are or are not to be done ; that 

 is, whether they are right or wrong. With all organ- 

 isms, life is a continuous process of selecting one line 

 of action and rejecting another, of determining 

 whether certain actions are right or wrong. The life 

 of the single-celled organism is such a continual 

 process of trial, with pursuit or rejection; it has its 

 dramatic crises as has the life of higher creatures. 



Attempts have been made, in some artificial sys- 

 tems of thought, to divorce the ideas of what is right 



