VI 



PREFACE 



tried to sketch the general lines of reasoning in a way which, 

 while I hope scientifically accurate so far as they go, are yet 

 popular enough to be readily understood by readers with 

 a fair average reading in general science. 



It is my belief that Holism and the holistic point of view 

 will prove important in their bearings on some of the main 

 problems of science and philosophy, ethics, art and allied 

 subjects. These bearings are, however, not fully discussed 

 in this work, which is more of the nature of an introduction, 

 and is concerned more with the laying of foundations than 

 with the superstructure. I have no time at present to do 

 more than write an introductory sketch; but I hope in the 

 years to come to find time to follow up the subject and to 

 show how it affects the higher spiritual interests of mankind. 

 The old concepts and formulas are no longer adequate to 

 express our modern outlook. The old bottles will no longer 

 hold the new wine. The spiritual temple of the future, while 

 it will be built largely of the old well-proved materials, will 

 require new and ampler foundations in the light of the 

 immense extension of our intellectual horizons. This little 

 book indicates the lines along which my own mind has trav- 

 elled in the search for new and more satisfactory concepts. 



A generation ago, when I was an undergraduate at Cam- 

 bridge, the subject of Personality interested me greatly, and 

 I wrote a short study on "Walt Whitman: A Study in the 

 Evolution of Personality," in order to embody the results I 

 had arrived at. This study was never published, but the 

 subject continued at odd intervals to engage my attention. 

 Gradually I came to realise that Personality was only 

 a special case of a much more universal phenomenon, 

 namely, the existence of wholes and the tendency towards 

 wholes and wholeness in nature. In 19 lo I sought relief 

 from heavy political labours in an attempt to embody my 

 new results in a study called " An Inquiry into the Whole," 

 which also was not published. I had no time to return to 

 the subject until, in 1924, a change of government released 

 me from burdens which I had continuously borne for more 

 than eighteen years. When I came to read once more the 



