PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



follow a deterministic course, but showed an adaptability to 

 its situation which in his opinion could only be explained by 

 the activity of a special non-material factor, the entelechy. It 

 seemed as if an intelligent being directed the course of events 

 in such a way that even under extremely infavorable circum- 

 stances the embryo realised its purpose — namely, a har- 

 monious adult animal. In emergency cases certain cells did not 

 follow their normal development, but took an entirely different 

 course in order to take over the tasks of damaged or lost parts. 

 There could hardly be any doubt that the entelechy did exist. 



Later experiments proved, however, that the intelligence of 

 experimental biologists was much greater than that of the 

 entelechy; it became evident that even the startling phenomena 

 of regulation and regeneration could be explained by chemical 

 and physical factors working in a purely deterministic way. 



These two examples, taken from the history of biology, may 

 suffice to make us understand the statement of von Bertalanffy; 

 that the history of biology constitutes the refutation of 

 vitalism. 1 And he is right, in so far as no biologist believes 

 any longer that the phenomena of life cannot, in principle, be 

 explained by physics and chemistry. 



Does this mean, however, that the mechanistic point of view 

 had won victory on all fronts? To answer that question, it 

 should, first of all, be borne in mind that the general agreement 

 among modern biologists with respect to the possibilities of 

 physico-chemical explanations of life leaves one problem un- 

 decided. It is exactly the problem we are interested in — 

 namely, the origin of life. All biologists do agree on the 

 question that once the order of a living organism is given, 

 the phenomena of life can be explained by the co-operation 

 of the material forces, coordinated in that organism. They do 

 not agree, however, on the question regarding the origin of 

 that order. Some consider that order as the unexplainable 

 mystery of life, while others view it as the natural result of 

 the material forces themselves. 



Thus, the antithesis between vitalism and mechanicism is 

 still alive. Both parties seem to have a strong case. The 

 mechanicists claim that the history of biology will decide in 



1 L. von Bertalanffy, Das Biologische Welfbild, Bern, 1949, vol. I, 

 p. 21. 



65 



