ANALYTICAL CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE METAPHYSICS OF NATURAL SELECTION 



I. Chance in relation to purpose, as accident As absence of design In 



relation to law ; as Hind law As blind combination of laws Com- 

 pare witli the last the scientific or mechanical view of the world ; a 

 number of separate substances ruled by a number of independent 

 laws Good enough for science, not for philosophy Darwin ought 

 not to assume things as really disconnected, merely because he has 

 not needed to investigate their connection As if organism and environ- 

 ment were accidentally brought together Or as if organism and 

 organism were mere rivals (They are rivals !) Or as if force and 

 force were disconnected ? 



II. Darwin treats variation as casual, i.e. as a thing with no bearing in 



itself on the purpose of the species His theory allows this assump- 

 tion But does not prove it We all habitually understand the 

 theory in that sense, e.g. in contrasting natural selection with use- 

 inheritance On the fact, evidence is wanted Conceivably variation 

 may choose very irregularly between many fixed possibilities This 

 seems to point back to disconnected laws, as in last section. 



III. Even on Darwin's own view he is hardly entitled to call the process 

 of evolution natural selection Aggregate range of possible variation 

 is fixed by the nature of the material Two agencies must be taken 

 together Of the two the varying organism, not the blindly selecting 

 environment, seems the better to account for rise of new qualities 

 Summary of I. II. III. 



IV. Kinds of natural selection, A, B, and C B exists ! If organic 

 evolution is a fact, C exists ! Accelerating any other evolutionary 

 force that may exist, and of course involving B If A is found along- 

 side of C, A must have a separate field where C cannot enter, else 

 inconsiderable Natural selection (C) lasts as long as nature is nature 

 Even along with (the more rapid force of) animal intelligence 

 True reason checks it Does natural selection ever work by itself 

 (A) ? Higher animals with fewer births evolve as quickly as lower; 

 has a new force arisen ? or was natural selection never the leading 

 force ? [Can we regard intelligence as the new evolving force ? Dr. 

 Mellone assumes its operation everywhere !] 



V. Can natural selection apply to men ? Biologically Struggle with 



beasts is over Famine (A) is rare, and of doubtful tendency 

 Pestilence (C) does harm Vice (B) Crime (B) War (selects the 



