362 BRAINS OF RATS AND MEN 



man (physiologically and psychologically) on a nat- 

 uralistic basis — for a mess of dialectic pottage. 



No metaphysical postulate of necessity in the the- 

 ological sense of foreordination, no fatalistic my- 

 thology of a bygone age which envisages man as a 

 puppet all of whose acts are determined from without 

 his own personality, no mechanistic schema which 

 recognizes no patterns of vital energies different from 

 those of physical chemistry as manifested in semi- 

 permeable membranes and fat-soluble vitamines — 

 none of these favorite devices of an oversimplified 

 physiology measures up to the requirements of an 

 adequate statement of the problem of human life. 



We have all of these physiological functions — and 

 more. There is no doubt about that. And we have 

 also an understanding and inquiring mind, an in- 

 satiable curiosity, a noble ambition, a quickened sym- 

 pathy, a tender affection, a social conscience, an al- 

 truistic aspiration. These are real components of hu- 

 man behavior; they are causative factors in human 

 conduct. 



Biologically considered, these factors have sur- 

 vival value under the conditions of an advanced stage 

 of social culture; for these are the integrating bonds 

 that hold such a community together and enable it 

 to crowd out of their places in the sun those other 

 communities whose more primitive ideals of personal 

 or national self-aggrandizement yield the antisocial 

 fruits of aggressive warfare and exploitation of neigh- 



