LIFE AS MECHANISM 



regions. But, passing over the exaggerated statements 

 and illogical deductions of Haeckel, we may accept 

 this mechanistic monism as the end towards which the 

 Theory of Descent by natural selection tends. 



It is surprising how few biologists see that the 

 philosophical conclusion of Darwin's hypothesis of 

 natural selection is a mechanistic monism. The reason 

 is: too many men of science are unwarrantably self- 

 satisfied with the superiority and certainty of their 

 scientific method and are but superficially trained in 

 either philosophy or humanistic thought. As a conse- 

 quence, they rather affect to despise the logical con- 

 clusions of their scientific hypotheses when they are 

 carried beyond their purely technical significance by 

 what they call "paper philosophers." Or else they 

 content themselves with the excuse that their hypoth- 

 eses serve well enough for their own immediate pur- 

 poses; if their effect on social and religious problems 

 is unfortunate, the remedy should be proposed by 

 others. Professor Vernon Kellogg is not indifferent to 

 the results of Darwinism. He recognizes, while he 

 laments the fact, that it is discredited as much by its 

 philosophical vulnerability as by the adverse charac- 

 ter of recent biological discoveries. He says: "The 

 name Darwinism has been pretty consistently applied 

 by biologists only to those theories practically origi- 

 nal with Darwin which offer a mechanic explanation 

 of the accepted fact of descent."^ 



^ Kellogg, Darwinism To-Day, p. 2. 



