MONISM 



.physical explanation and mathematical fonnulation of 

 all phenomena. Hence vitalism enters with its dualis- 

 tic notions, and splits the science into two different 

 branches — natural science (physics in the wider sense) 

 and mental science (metaphysics) ; fixed natural laws 

 are supposed to rule only in the former, while in the 

 latter we still have the "freedom" of the spirit and the 

 supernatural. This applies, first of all, to biology in 

 the broadest sense (including anthropology and all the 

 sciences that relate to man). In the preceding chapters 

 of biological philosophy we have sought to refute vital- 

 ism in every form, and to secure the exclusive acceptance 

 of monism and mechanicism in every branch of the 

 science of life. 



Anthropology is still, as it has been for centuries, 

 taken in many different senses. In the widest sense, it 

 embraces the whole vast science of man, just as zoology 

 (in my opinion) deals with all parts of the animal world. 

 Since I regard anthropology as a part of zoology, I 

 naturally extend the principles of monism to both. 

 However, this general monistic conception of the science 

 of man has met with only a restricted acceptance up to 

 the present. As a rule, the term "anthropology" is 

 restricted to the natural history of man, which includes 

 the anatomy and physiology of the human organism, 

 embryology, prehistoric research, and a small part of 

 psychology. But this "official anthropology," as most 

 of our anthropological societies (especially in Germany) 

 conceive it, generally excludes phylogeny, the greater 

 part of psychology, and all the mental sciences, which 

 are regarded as metaphysical in the narrower sense. I 

 endeavored to show in my Anthropogeny thirty years 

 ago that man (as a placental mammal of the order of 

 primates) is no less unified an organism (with body and 

 soul) than any other vertebrate, and that, therefore, every 

 aspect of his being should be dealt with monistically. 



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