CHAPTER I 



THE EVOLUTION OP LIFE — MECHANISM AND TELEOLOGY 



The existence of which we are most assured and which 

 we know best is unquestionably our own, for of every 

 other object we have notions which may be considered 

 external and superficial, whereas, of ourselves, our per- 

 ception is internal and profound. What, then, do we 

 find? In this privileged case, what is the precise mean- 

 ing of the word "exist"? Let us recall here briefly the 

 conclusions of an earlier work. 



I find, first of all, that I pass from state to state. I 

 am warm or cold, I am merry or sad, I work or I do noth- 

 ing, I look at what is around me or I think of something 

 else. Sensations, feelings, volitions, ideas — such are the 

 changes into which my existence is divided and which 

 color it in turns. I change, then, without ceasing. But 

 this is not saying enough. Change is far more radical 

 than we are at first inclined to suppose. 



For I speak of each of my states as if it formed a block 

 and were a separate whole. I say indeed that I change, 

 but the change seems to me to. reside in the passage from 

 one state to the next: of each state, taken separately, 

 I am apt to think that it remains the same during all the 

 time that it prevails. Nevertheless, a slight effort of 

 attention would reveal to me that there is no feeling, no 

 idea, no volition which is not undergoing change every 

 moment: if a mental state ceased to vary, its duration 



