CONSCIOUSNESS AS A VITAL FUNCTION 303 



questions they will come toward the end, not at the 

 beginning, of our program of scientific study of 

 natural phenomena. 



In teaching biology to beginners we do not ordi- 

 narily introduce the subject with an adequate defini- 

 tion of life and an exposition of its ontological rela- 

 tionships. In fact, we do not know the ultimate na- 

 ture of matter, of life, or of mind. But we do know 

 a great deal about these things, and as the breadth 

 of our knowledge increases, the interrelationships of 

 these three domains of knowledge become more evi- 

 dent and the underlying unity of the cosmos in which 

 they inhere becomes an increasingly probable sci- 

 entific induction. 



We can deal scientifically with mind just as we 

 deal with life; it is given as a datum of experience. 

 Our task is to find out as much about it as possible by 

 every available method of study. And as our knowl- 

 edge increases, the mental phenomena, like the other 

 vital phenomena, are more and more clearly seen to 

 articulate with the rest of nature. Most biologists see 

 no advantage to be derived from the postulation of 

 metaphysical vital forces to help them over the diffi- 

 cult and obscure places in their science, and the argu- 

 ment for the avoidance of such an appeal in psy- 

 chology is quite as convincing to some of us. And yet 

 the treatment of the mind-and-body problem in most 

 of our current philosophical systems does imply just 

 such an appeal to categories that lie beyond the 



