THE GOAL OF EVOLUTION 239 



nvhen i?icreasingly critical and more and more unlikely con- 

 -figurations evolve. 



I have earnestly tried to show in this thesis that one may 

 speak of an ever-receding goal of evolution without becom- 

 ing involved in a teleological or telefinalistic argument. I 

 feel that there is undeniable evidence for the concept of 

 mind-in-matter-energy, and for the ever-receding goal of 

 understanding. I have assumed from the very nature of the 

 rising levels of increasingly difficult complexity and of the 

 infinite succession of finite cosmic and organic configura- 

 tions which evolution has brought and has yet to bring into 

 existence that the -process "will eternally fall short of any 

 final goal. 



Finally, an effort was made to show that man, and man 

 alone, is in a position to push forward a little way toward 

 the goal and that even if there were no purpose in the uni- 

 verse he could introduce purpose on a local and finite scale. 

 It was brought out that there is no hope of mental progress 

 in adherence to myth and dogma; that man must end the 

 confusion of the multiplicity of superstitions; that he must 

 semantically control his false-to-fact indoctrination; that he 

 must turn to and abide by the findings of increasingly com- 

 prehensive and exact sciences. For science in an increasing 

 degree, quality, and honesty is absolutely necessary to higher 

 understanding. The way upward does not lead through the- 

 ology, nor even through philosophy, for the philosopher 

 must depend on science for the basic rightness of his insight. 



It has been the contention of this thesis that man, if he is 

 to reach the highest plateaus of intellect, must make use of 

 the awareness and intelligence nature has with such extreme 

 difficulty and near-failures evolved to his present level. But 

 it was not the intent of the thesis to infer that his mere sur- 

 vival depends on any conscious directional act on his part. 

 iMan, as now constituted, will rather easily survive long, 

 long after his present mammalian associates are gone. The 

 average life of a species of mammal is somewhere between 



