CHAPTER XII 



FINAL CAUSES 1 



The argument from design, which proved so fascinating 

 a subject to writers on teleology of the old School, has 

 been thought to have received its death-blow by Darwin- 

 ism.2 This doctrine, as propounded by Mr. Darwin, is 

 now forty years of age. In the year 1878 appeared 

 probably the most elaborate work on Final Causes which 

 has ever issued from the Press. It contains two books. 

 The first treats of the Law of Finality, the second of the 

 First Cause of Finality. This term is defined as follows : 

 " It signifies the end (finis) for which one acts, or towards 

 which one tends, and which may consequently be con- 

 sidered as a cause of action or of motion ". Hence it 

 would seem that a sharp distinction should be drawn be- 

 ween Finality and Causality ; that while every pheno- 

 menon demands a cause of some sort, it is only a certain 

 number which have an cnd^ this notion being " produced 



1 Filial Causes. By Paul Janet, Member of the Institute, Professor 

 at the Faculte des Lettres of Paris. Translated from the French by 

 William Affleck, B.D., with preface by Robert Flint, D.D., LL.D., 

 Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 

 1878. 



This chapter recapitulates to a certain extent several observations made 

 throughout this book. I do not think this is any objection to its inser- 

 tion. It was written more than twenty years ago, but the arguments 

 are, I believe, as sound to-day as they were when it was written. 



^Lay Sermons. By T. H. Huxley, p. 330. 



(114) 



