32 NATURE S GOOD: A CONVERSATION 



totally different order from those directly obtained 

 by use of the method. If purpose and fulfilment 

 exist as natural goods, then, and only then, can 

 consciousness itself be a fulfilment of Nature, and 

 be also a natural good. Any other view is inex 

 plicable to sound thinking save, historically, as a 

 product of modern political individualism and lit 

 erary romanticism which have combined to produce 

 that idealistic philosophy according to which the 

 mind in knowing the universe creates it. 



The view that purpose and realization are pro 

 foundly natural, and that consciousness or, if 

 you will, experience is itself a culmination and 

 climax of Nature, is not a new view. Formulated 

 by Aristotle, it has always persisted wherever the 

 traditions of sound thinking have not been ob 

 scured by romanticism. The modern scientific doc- 

 trine of evolution confirmsTimd spieciSs the meta 

 physical insight of Aristotle. This doctrine sets 

 forth in detailjmd_in verified detail, as a genuine 

 characteristic^ of existence, the tendency toward 

 cumulative results, the definite trend of things to- 

 wafd^clHmlnation and achievement. It describes 



, in terms &quot;of and by right 



of its own subject-matter (not as an addition of 

 subsequent reflection), differences of value and im 

 portance differences, moreover, that exercise se 

 lective influence upon the course of things, that is 

 to say, genuinely determine the events that occur. 



