CHAPTER II. Intelligence and "end"

INTELLIGENCE AND "END"

The question as to the extent to which Reason is diffused in the universe--Darwin and Haeckel on Reason and Instinct--Du Prel on Reason as a fundamental property of all matter--Carneri on the automatism of animals--The dependence of theories on this question on the starting-point assumed in the argument--Difficulties of assigning a limit-line to Reason--Schneider's criteria--Insectivorous plants--Knight, Darwin, etc., on the movements of plants--Race-habits--So-called reflex-action in man--From non-analogy no inference possible--Arbitrary nature of the assumptions involved in the two starting-points of query--Reason = Cause or Effect?--Further criticism of the concepts of Cause and Effect--The bias of the specialist--Attempted definition of the province of reason--Definition of "End"--Unreliability of inference as to the nature of ends in other individuals; in other species--Possible inferences from the analogy of the nervous system--Certain possible limiting assumptions as to the province of knowledge in animal species--The Law of the Variation of Pain and Pleasure in function--The ultimate dilemma--Examinations of Teleological conceptions with respect to the Tendency to Stability--Criticism of Wallace on the Origin of Life, or of Consciousness--Summary of conclusions 307-340