FATAL ISM OR FREEDOM 



brain and complexity of its internal texture 

 below which no higher mental processes 

 are possible. A human brain with less 

 than this minimum of organization, if 

 taken from the body and preserved in a 

 museum jar, will be immediately diagnosed 

 as that of an imbecile by a neurologist 

 who knows nothing of its previous history. 

 Our mentality is adequate for getting 

 along in the world and for doing things 

 which would be impossible without it. 

 These activities which we know best intro- 

 spectively comprise for us human folk the 

 best and most important part of our vital 

 processes. We must, therefore, take ac- 

 count of them in the natural history of 

 human life. And by so doing we tremen- 

 dously enlarge the scope of our analysis 

 of human nature without sacrifice of sound 

 scientific method. This "functional view" 

 does not mean that thought Is a "secretion 

 of the brain" any more than it means that 

 walking is a secretion of the muscles. Nor 

 is it more objectionably materialistic than 

 is the statement of the relation of any 

 other function with its anatomical organ. 

 What may be the relation between any 

 organ and its function, any material and 

 its properties, matter and energy in gen- 



[44] 



