BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



patient study of the environment and the organism. It 

 comes to recognize in nature forces beyond human influence 

 or control, except by the route of comprehension; it comes 

 to recognize man in all respects as part of nature, with 

 affiliations deep and significant with other organisms, 

 no less than with endowments unique but not unrelated 

 to minds of other kinds. Nor can man by any inspiration 

 step out of the scheme of nature, or overcome his limita- 

 tions, save by that same instrument of understanding that 

 makes the human estate possible. 



The history of science thus considered, and psychology 

 centrally, presents a pre-naturalistic or an anti-naturalistic 

 phase and stage; it clings tenaciously to a super-naturalistic 

 intrusion; slowly it emerges to a consistent naturalism. It 

 was by such irregular course that the psychologist became 

 a naturalist. The renaissance of psychology was dependent 

 upon the advent of naturalism. The doctrine of the soul, 

 with its ethical and religious implications and cosmic 

 place, is both pre-natural and anti-natural; the magical- 

 mystical development in primitive and advanced religions 

 goes over to the super-natural, and reappears in so modern 

 a claim as a "meta-psychics." Yet they all fuse from the 

 outset and mingle their products variously and ever with 

 a core of true psychology proceeding upon "natural" 

 observations of the phenomena of the mental world. 

 Naturalizing psychology among the commonwealths of 

 science has proved to be a tortuous process, consummated 

 only in our own generation. 



The modern student is interested in understanding how 

 psychology in the scientific temper views and studies the 

 life of the mind; that is the central purpose of this contribu- 

 tion. It can include but a limited survey of the data of 

 the science, selecting by emphasis discoveries that deter- 

 mine principles of interpretation. As already indicated, 



[56] 



