1Q THE BIOCOSMOS GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



The philosopher proper of Evolution is 

 unquestionably Hegel, who ranks among the 

 greatest of his guild. His first important 

 original work lay in the domain of the History 

 of Philosophy, whose systems of thought 

 from the old Greeks down to his time were 

 put into an evolutionary line which finally 

 evolved into his own system as the latest and 

 most complete. Thus Hegel quite at the start 

 of the century (perhaps a little before) came 

 into possession of the Evolution of Thought, 

 which indeed may be deemed the ideal pro- 

 totype of Evolution marching toward realisa- 

 tion during the ensuing years. Indeed he had 

 extracted it from its long antecedent historic 

 wrappage and revealed it in its pure Forms 

 or Ideas, as well as in its inner connection. 

 In the introduction to the foregoing work 

 (History of Philosophy) it is significant to 

 notice what strong and repeated stress he 

 puts upon Entwickelung (Evolution), as if 

 he already felt the pressure of the new spirit 

 of the age for its pivotal term or category. 

 In his next book (Phenomenology, 1806) he 

 unfolds the method in tracing the subjective 

 mind through its stages from lowest to high- 

 est. But his greatest work in this field is his 

 Logic (the larger one) which is an Evolution 

 of the "pure essences" of the Absolute Intel- 

 ligence (of the Logos) as expressed in the 



