XI FUNCTIONS AND IDEALS 3" 



act irrespective of motives or external conditions operating 

 in it; and that this indeterminism is borne out by our con- 

 sciousness of freedom of choice between various alternatives. 

 Against this view there is not only the scientific evidence, 

 but also the feeling that Freedom in this sense of unmoti- 

 vated decision would be an exceptional capricious element 

 in the orderly procedure of the universe. Capricious indi- 

 vidual behaviour seems unworthy of such a world, and would 

 certainly not accord with Holism such as we see it in the 

 course of cosmic Evolution. In trying to arrive at the cor- 

 rect view, we must on the one hand discard mere physical 

 determinism as being purely mechanical and in conflict with 

 Holism in its organic and personal forms; and on the other 

 we must recognise the universal orderly character of Holism, 

 which does not admit of particular or individual caprice. 

 And'in this way we arrive at the idea of holistic, as dis- 

 tinguished from physical or mechanical, determinism. The 

 Whole, and Personality in so far as it is a whole expressive 

 of the individuating activity of Holism, are not and cannot 

 be mechanically determined; they are self-determined in 

 their characters as wholes. In other words, theirs is holistic 

 as distinguished from mechanical determination. Freedom, 

 not in the sense of individual caprice of choice, but in the 

 sense of self-determination of a whole, or holistic determin- 

 ism, is an inherent character of Personality, and flows from 

 the very nature of Holism. In so far, however, as any 

 human being is deficient in Personality his actions also tend 

 to be a mechanical reflex of impulses and external con- 

 ditions, and to that extent to lose the character of true 

 freedom. 



It is clear from the foregoing that Freedom is not merely 

 a concept but becomes an ethical and personal ideal. Free- 

 dom is the full measure of self-realisation which each human 

 being by its nature aspires to. It is not yet a firm possession 

 of Personality. No doubt all Personality has it in some 

 degree, just as every organism has it in a lower, more 

 primitive form. But the freedom of a Personality is the 

 measure of its development and self-realisation. It is the 



