The Method 15 



changes is the order of nature. It is a false 

 assumption which forces the categories of 

 animal life on human life and attempts to 

 explain the latter by the former. Human life 

 is conscious life, and human progress is con- 

 scious progress. In every field of endeavor, 

 conscious acts precede those which are un- 

 conscious ; consciously acquired character is 

 the antecedent of the natural character. If 

 our logical canon is correct, this order is 

 the order of nature, and lower life passes 

 through the same stages when it is in mo- 

 bile evolution. I would therefore raise the 

 inductions concerning human life into pri- 

 mary laws and affirm that its principles are 

 of general application. What is happening 

 has happened, and the course of its happening 

 is the course of all happenings. Vital forces 

 are to-day what they always have been, and 

 it is a false premise which assumes that past 

 changes were due to forces now extinct or 

 of so little potency that the natural order of 

 progress is changed. 



