III4 LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



HOLISM 



Here let us refer briefly to the notable book, Holism and Evolution 

 (1926), by General the Rt. Hon. J. C. Smuts. The author, as every- 

 one knows, has led a crowded and arduous life, during which, as he 

 tells us, his companion has been a great idea — Holism — which 

 means the evolutionary tendency to progressive whole-making. It is 

 interesting to find that, as an undergraduate at Cambridge, Smuts 

 wrote a book on Walt Whitman; "a study in the evolution of 

 personality"; and later on (1910), as a relief from heavy political 

 labours, he wrote another, entitled, An Inquiry into the Whole. 

 Neither of these books was published; but some release from affairs 

 of State in 1924 enabled Smuts to present a preliminary statement 

 of his long-cherished and tested doctrine of Holism. It is a serious 

 contribution towards the upbuilding of a new constructive world- 

 view, and very important if Smuts is right in his conviction, with 

 which we fully agree, that in the last resort a civilisation depends 

 on its general ideas. "If the soul of our civilisation is to be saved 

 we shall have to find new and fuller expression for the great saving 

 unities— the unity of reality in all its range, the unity of life in all 

 its forms, the unity of ideas throughout human civilisation, and the 

 unity of man's spirit with the mystery of the Cosmos in religious 

 faith and aspiration." He thinks that the idea of Holism may be a 

 guiding idea in the present time of transition, when "we are 

 threatened with reaction on the one hand and with disintegration 

 on the other. The old beacon lights are growing dimmer, and the 

 torch of new ideas has to be kindled for our guidance". What, then, 

 is the torch of Holism? It is the idea that "evolution is nothing but 

 the gradual development and stratification of progressive series of 

 wholes, stretching from the inorganic beginnings to the highest 

 levels of spiritual creation". 



Of recent years the scientific outlook has become more synoptic, 

 trying to take account of all the orders of facts — such as matter, 

 life, and mind. It seeks to see things whole; in other words, the 

 analytic scientific outlook is giving place to the synthetic and 

 philosophical. This change has been brought about by several 

 factors, such as the unifying concept of evolution, the general idea 

 of relativity, and the increased correlation of the sciences in investi- 

 gation. Moreover, the old mechanical or billiard-ball theory of 

 causation, that there can be no more in the effect than there was 

 in the cause, has been recognised as partial and often irrelevant; 

 as is particularly evident in organic evolution, where some new 

 synthesis has so often emerged, as a qualitative advance, not a mere 

 additive resultant. It has also become clear that each science by 

 itself is bound, by the nature of its methods, to be partial and 



