NATURE, HISTORY, AND ETHICS 405 



cognitive force, which creates the objects of its 

 knowledge in the very act of perceiving them. Its 

 knowledge is action. 1 



It is not our purpose to go into philosophical 

 questions. We merely wish to point out the limits 

 of the theory of evolution, and show that there is 

 something that cannot be subjected to either scientific 

 or historical investigation. 



There is one more point that we must make clear. 

 We were justified in accepting the view that the 

 more complex animals have descended from the less 

 complex. The multicellular have been evolved from 

 the unicellular, these from unnucleated animals, and 

 these in turn from inorganic matter. But we must 

 not forget that even the simplest organisms possess 

 an infinite diversity, and that each of them has its 

 individuality, which can never be completely replaced 



1 The reader who has never reflected on these questions will do well 

 to think of himself. What do / know of the world? What is 

 absolutely real and certain about it ? It is absolutely certain that 

 there are sensations in me, but that is all. The world, my fellows, and 

 all they tell me, are so many sensations in me. It might all be a 

 dream ! I know for certain only that something is taking place, that I 

 have sensations. I can imagine that I am dreaming of the world, my 

 life, and my fellows. This figure should be most helpful to conceive 

 the matter. 



My own body and my whole psychic life are only sensations in 

 me. This comprehensive sensation, embracing all that occurs, is 

 consciousness. It is impersonal, and not bound up with any particular 

 man, for his very individuality is a content of consciousness. 



This view does not do away with the reality of the world. The 

 world holds its reality as a content of consciousness. All its phenomena 

 remain as we know them, and the relations of its various parts and 

 phenomena to each other remain, because consciousness dominates 

 the whole. 



