1 6 DEVELOPMENT AND PURPOSE CHAP. 



terminal point of our narrative we have still to ask whether 

 this point is the c highest ' yet reached or whether it marks 

 a decline from some earlier stage, and this is a question 

 which can only be determined by the aid of a standard upon 

 which the c higher ' and the ' lower ' are clearly marked. 

 If in the end we come to the conclusion as for reasons 

 which will be given, I believe we may that our own 

 civilisation does upon the whole represent a certain net 

 advance on the previous efforts of humanity, this conclu- 

 X sion must be based upon a clear-sighted comparison of the 

 historical facts with an agreed standard of values. 



7. Lastly, the most interesting class of questions concern- 

 ing development cannot be answered by history alone. A 

 just conception of the trend of development is most valuable 

 to us in as far as it concerns the future. But though history 

 may suffice to show us the orbit upon which the evolution 

 of mind has moved we cannot project the curve into the 

 future by the aid of history alone. We shall have to 

 investigate the permanent conditions of mental growth, 

 and when this problem is taken in its broadest aspects it 

 will be found to compel an examination of the whole posi- 

 tion of Mind in the system of Reality. This investigation 

 must decide first whether Mind is, as suggested by the 

 mechanical theory, a mere ' epiphenomenon ' or a substan- 

 tive factor in evolution, and secondly, if it is a factor at all, 

 what position it holds and what function it performs. This 

 will necessitate an analysis of the causal process, which will 

 again involve an appeal to first principles. This analysis 

 will occupy the second part of the volume, and the attempt 

 will there be made to show that by its means we arrive at 

 a conception of Mind and its function in Reality which is 

 in close harmony with our historical results and which 

 accordingly serves to corroborate and extend the interpreta- 

 tion which they suggest. 



The scope and method of the book then may now be 

 briefly defined. Its object is to determine the nature of 

 Mind and its position or function in the system of Reality 

 and its method is first to trace the historical development 

 of Mind from its earliest ascertainable conditions to its 

 latest phases, secondly to value the achievement of these 



