ANALYTICAL CONTENTS xix 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE METAPHYSICS OF NATURAL SELECTION 



I. Chance in relation to purpose, as accident As absence of design 



In relation to law; as blind law As blind combination of laws 



Compare with the last the scientific or mechanical view of the 

 world; a number of separate substances ruled by a number of 

 independent laws Good enough for science, not for philosophy 



Darwin ought not to assume things as really disconnected, 

 merely because he has not needed to investigate their connection 



As if organism and environment were accidentally brought 

 together Or as if organism and organism were mere rivals 

 (They are rivals !) Or as if force and force were disconnected? 



II. Darwin treats variation as casual, i.e. as a thing with no bearing 

 in itself on the purpose of the species His theory allows this 

 assumption But does not prove it We all habitually under- 

 stand the theory in that sense, e.g. in contrasting natural selection 

 with use-inheritance On the fact, evidence is wanted Con- 

 ceivably variation may choose very irregularly between many fixed 

 possibilities This seems to point back to disconnected laws, as 

 in last section 



III. Even on Darwin's own view he is hardly entitled to call the 

 process of evolution natural selection Aggregate range of possi- 

 ble variation is fixed by the nature of the material Two agencies 

 must be taken together Of the two the varying organism, not 

 the blindly selecting environment, seems the better to account for 

 rise of new qualities Summary of I., II., III. 



IV. Kinds of natural selection, A, B, and C B exists! If organic 

 evolution is a fact, C exists ! Accelerating any other evolutionary 

 force that may exist, and of course involving B If A is found 

 alongside of C, A must have a separate field where C cannot enter, 

 else inconsiderable Natural selection (C) lasts as long as nature 

 is nature Even along with (the more rapid force of) animal 

 intelligence True reason checks it Does natural selection ever 

 work by itself (A) ? Higher animals with fewer births evolve as 

 quickly as lower; has a new force arisen? or was natural selec- 

 tion never the leading force ? [Can we regard intelligence as the 

 new evolving force? Dr. Mellone assumes its operation every- 

 where !] 



