244 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



conative activity, is in the direct line of Evolution from 

 organic regulation: psychic reason is the direct descendant 

 of organic regulation. This would appear from the simple 

 fact that the central nervous system is the physiological 

 organ of regulation and co-ordination in the living body; 

 and the brain, which is nothing but the crowning develop- 

 ment of the nervous system, is again the organ and physio- 

 logical correlate of Mind. In other words, as the brain is 

 merely a development of the nervous system, so the Mind is 

 nothing but a development of prior organic regulation. 

 Mind qua Reason is thus the organising principle, the 

 principle of central control and co-ordination, and carries on 

 the tradition and evolution of Holism in the direct line, so 

 to say. 



And in the entire range of its rational activity Mind shows 

 the same synthetic co-ordinating character. This could 

 easily be proved by running through the psychological 

 functions, ranging from their beginnings in attention and 

 passing through sensation, perception, imagination, concep- 

 tion, and on to judgment or reasoning. In every case an 

 ordering synthetic activity is at work producing structural 

 masses of experience arranged on definite ascertainable 

 principles of selection and grouping. These products of the 

 rational activity of Mind are not mere artificial aggregates, 

 mere assemblages of psychological items arranged according 

 to mechanical principles or so-called laws of association or 

 rules of logic. On the contrary, they are synthetic unities 

 of an advanced holistic character. A percept or an image 

 or a concept is a holistic unity, built up out of a mass of 

 materials, on definite principles of cohesion and co-ordina- 

 tion. So too is a judgment. It is the business of psychology 

 to study these syntheses and their structures, and the prin- 

 ciples according to which they are formed, and connected 

 with each other. Mind in its rational activity is thus syn- 

 thetic and co-ordinative through and through, and its prod- 

 ucts are synthetic, organic and holistic in a marked degree. 



Mind the organiser transforms, reorganises and reconsti- 

 tutes even the individualist Self. The rebel in the end has 



