Mechanism, Vitalism, and Teleology 369 



mutation theory believe, would it be possible to explain such 

 perfect adaptations as are found, for example, in the eye? 

 If these be attributed to the chance occurrence of favorable 

 mutations, do we not place upon chance a perfectly, im- 

 possible burden when we load upon it not only all the won- 

 derful adaptations in such an organ as the eye, but also all 

 the multitudes of adaptations and coadaptations which exist 

 in every part and function of man or one of the higher 

 animals? 



Most of all, when we turn from analysis to synthesis and 

 consider the whole course of organic evolution from amoeba 

 to man, from the simplest motor responses to the develop- 

 ment of an intellect capable of studying the universe and its 

 origin, are we impressed with the idea that evolution has 

 been guided by something other than chance. Progressive 

 evolution consists in increasing complexity of organization 

 and in increasing adaptation, to the environment. It is prob- 

 ably no accident that organization, mutations, and environ- 

 ment have been so correlated that they have led to the per- 

 fection of organization and adaptation which we see all 

 about us. Evolution has not been an eternal seesaw : it has 

 led somewhere. The fact that organisms can adapt them- 

 selves to changing environment is no accident; the fact that 

 environment has so changed as to bring about progress is 

 no accident. Philosophically, it is difficult to avoid the con- 

 clusion that evolution has revealed a larger teleology than 

 was ever dreamed of before a teleology which differs from 

 vitalism in that it takes in not only the living but also the 

 lifeless world. 



And yet science cannot deal with teleology but only with 

 causes and effects and mechanisms; given matter and energy 

 and life, with all their potentialities, science deals with the 

 succession of events in evolution, explaining them in, a purely 



