262 



Habit and Instinct. 



CHAPTEE XII. 



THE RELATION OF ORGANIC TO MENTAL EVOLUTION. 



THROUGHOUT our considerations of the phenomena of habit 

 and instinct, and of the relation of that which is congenital 

 to that which is acquired, we have had to deal with organic 

 activities which are associated with conscious states. It 

 has been assumed that organic evolution has carried with 

 it mental evolution. We have now to discuss the relation 

 of the one to the other. Problems of great difficulty 

 surround the subject, some of which must be resolutely 

 ignored. We will not, for example, attempt to inquire 

 what is the nature of the association between the organic 

 processes in brain or ganglion and the conscious process* 

 which are their concomitants; nor touch on the vexec 

 question of dualism and monism. That consciousness does 

 accompany brain action, and that, at some stage of organic 

 evolution, this consciousness does become an effective 

 factor in the developmental process, will be assumed. 



Two phases of organic development must be dis- 

 tinguished; first, that in which consciousness is eith< 

 absent or inoperative ; and secondly, that in whicl 

 consciousness is a co-operating factor. The first 

 be termed the merely organic phase ; the second, the 

 conscious-organic phase. The latter may again be sub- 

 divided into two phases ; first, that in which menl 

 evolution is subordinate to organic evolution ; and secondly, 

 that in which mental evolution is predominant. 



