V GENERAL CONCEPT OF HOLISM 99 



more in the term "whole" than is covered by its popular 

 use. In the view here presented "wholes" are basic to the 

 character of the universe, and Holism, as the operative 

 factor in the evolution of wholes, is the ultimate principle j 

 of the universe. 



The creation of wholes, and ever more highly organised * 

 wholes, and of wholeness generally as characteristic of 

 existence, is an inherent character of the universe. 

 There is not a mere vague indefinite creative energy 

 or tendency at work in the world. This energy or 

 tendency has specific characters, the most fundamental 

 of which is whole-making. And the progressive develop- 

 ment of the resulting wholes at all stages — from the most 

 inchoate, imperfect, inorganic wholes to the most highly 

 developed and organised — is what we call Evolution. The 

 whole-making, holistic tendency, or Holism, operating 

 in and through particular wholes, is seen at all stages 

 of existence, and is by no means confined to the bio- 

 logical domain to which science has hitherto restricted 

 it. With its roots in the inorganic, this universal tendency 

 attains clear expression in the organic biological world, and 

 reaches its highest expressions and results on the mental and 

 spiritual planes of existence. Wholes of various grades^ 

 are the real units of Nature. Wholeness is the most; 

 characteristic expression of the nature of the universe in 

 its forward movement in time. It marks the line of evolu- 

 tionary progress. And Holism is the inner driving force' 

 behind that progress. ' 



It is evident that if this view is correct, very important 

 results must follow for our conceptions of knowledge and life. 

 Wholes are not mere artificial constructions of thought, 

 they point to something real in the universe; and Holism 

 as the creative principle behind them is a real vera causa. 

 It is the motive force behind Evolution. We thus have} 

 behind Evolution not a mere vague and indefinable creative 

 impulse or elan vital, the bare idea of passage or duration 

 without any quality or character, and to which no 

 value or character could be attached, but something quite 



