CHAPTER XVIII 



ORGANISATION, CONFLICT, AND EVOLUTION 



i . WE assumed in Chapter I. that Orthogenic Evolution 

 must be identical with the evolution of Mind. This 

 evolution we have now traced, and found to consist in a 

 gradually developing organisation of life. This intelligent 

 organisation, however, is but the natural development and 

 expansion of a process which in its lower stages is purely 

 biological. The growth of intelligence and of social life 

 rests on a high development of physical organisation. To 

 grasp the process of Orthogenic Evolution as a whole we 

 must therefore extend our view. Speaking generally, it is 

 an advance towards a higher organisation, a development 

 of the organic principle in life. But what is a " higher " 

 organisation ? Can any definition be found which will not 

 bring us back to the conception of Mind or to some human 

 judgment of value ? 



Some light on this question may be gained by considering 

 what we mean by organic unity. By an organic whole, is 

 understood one which (a) has a certain general character or 

 individuality, while () it consists of distinguishable parts 

 each with a certain character of its own, but (c) such that 

 they cannot exist unmodified apart from the whole, while the 

 character of the whole is similarly dependent upon them. 

 By a mechanical whole, the negation of this interdepend- 

 ence is intended. It may indeed be doubted whether a 

 purely mechanical whole exists as a reality in rerum natura. 

 Thus, a heap of cannon balls, which has sometimes served 



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