FOREWORD 



THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY 

 PHILOSOPHIES 



THE philosophies that are founded on known facts 

 bearing on general and individual evolution, reach 

 widely different conclusions according as they recognise 

 a larger or smaller number of these facts, and go more or 

 less beyond them. 



And as the physical sciences steadily progress, 

 philosophy has to adapt itself to new discoveries, and 

 must therefore undergo successive modifications, which 

 are sometimes very radical. 



The general questions raised by evolution can be 

 reduced to three: 



Is there an evolution ? 



What is it that evolves ? 



How, and why, does evolution act ? 



Is there an evolution ? This question can be con- 

 sidered as scientifically disposed of. Yes, there is, an 

 uninterrupted progress from the simple to the complex. 



What is it that evolves ? 



This question is vastly more complicated and 

 difficult. Present scientific notions tend to establish the 

 unity of substance. They tend moreover to analyse this 

 single substance into atoms. They tend, to-day, to 

 view the atom, not as (strictly speaking) material, but 

 as a centre of force. 



'Matter,' writes M. Gustave le Bon, 1 'has 

 passed through widely differing phases. The first 

 carries us back to the very beginning of the universe 



1 M. Gustave le Bon : L' Evolution <k la Matilre. 

 141 



