COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



because they worshipped their creation as if it 

 were their creator ; and how can any [anthro- 

 pomorphic theory] escape the same condem- 

 nation ? " ^ 



The origin of the teleological hypothesis is 

 thus pointed out, and its plausibility accounted 

 for. On the one hand, the primitive tendency 

 in man to interpret nature anthropomorphically, 

 and his proneness to lend to his own ideas ob- 

 jective embodiment, are facts admitting no dis- 

 pute. All history teems with evidences of their 

 widespread and deep-rooted influence. Has not 

 fetishism been at one time the universal theo- 

 logy, and realism at another time the dominant 

 philosophy ? On the other hand, it is a corol- 

 lary from the fundamental laws of life that psy- 

 chical development has followed the course and 

 been determined by the conditions above de- 

 scribed. The view here defended may thus far 

 claim at least equal weight with those which 

 maintain the validity of the teleological hypo- 

 thesis. But we have next to consider a class of 

 phenomena, in the explanation of which that 

 hypothesis appears at a signal disadvantage. 



The perfect adjustment of inner to outer 

 relations is that which constitutes perfect life. 

 Were no chemical or mechanical relations to 

 arise without the organism, too sudden, too in- 

 tricate, or too unusual to be met by internal 

 ^ Physical Ethics, p. 225. 

 218 



