26o HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap, ix 



earliest forms of sensation and intuition; and he signalised 

 his discovery by applying to the subject in experience the 

 truly Olympian name of the '' synthetic unity of appercep- 

 tion.'' The view of Mind as Holism leads straight to the 

 same result, and quite simply and without the necessity to 

 resort to any cumbrous psychological or metaphysical 

 apparatus. The activity of Mind at all stages and in all 

 forms is holistic, structural and synthetic, and its products 

 show the same characters. The discriminative, selective, 

 ordering, synthetic character which mental activity shows 

 in all its higher operations is already fully present in its early 

 beginnings, and flows indeed from its very nature as Holism. 

 The various mental functions as dealt with in psychology, 

 therefore, are simply so many examples of holistic activity 

 on the mental plane. Analysis and discrimination may 

 appear to be unholistic, l3ut even they are but means to an 

 end in the synthetic process; the analysed and discrimi- 

 nated elements being but a stepping-stone to more effective 

 selective syntheses and groupings. It would be both interest- 

 ing and useful to run through the various psychological 

 activities and to show how they all exemplify and indeed 

 flow from the nature and concept of Holism. The task would 

 be easy, but it must be left to others. In this sketch of the 

 subject of Holism I can but confine myself to tracing the 

 larger outlines, and leave particular clues to be followed up 

 by others who may feel interested in the subject. 



Equally fruitful, in my opinion, will the application of 

 Holism prove to the problems of metaphysics and the other 

 higher disciplines of Mind. There is not a problem of Meta- 

 physics, of Ethics, of Art and even of Religion which will not 

 benefit enormously from contact with the concept of Holism. 

 Indeed the concept and standpoint of Holism may transform 

 many of their fundamental concepts and render obsolete 

 much of the somewhat barren analytical speculations which 

 are still current in philosophy. In this place I must be 

 content with this reference to the possibilities which lie 

 along the path of holistic argument and research. These 

 applications of the concept of Holism lie beyond the scope 

 of the present work. 



