Some Ideas To Creation and Development History The Organisms.-english-Gustav Theodor Fechner

Some ideas
to
Creation and development history

the
Organisms.
From
Gustav Theodor Fechner.
Leipzig
Printing and publishing by Breitkopf and Härtel.
1,873th
Foreword.
The doctrine of the creation and evolution of organisms has admittedly entered a
new stage through Darwin, in that even the multiple opposition which he found has
only contributed to bringing new life into the whole doctrine. In Germany it is
undoubtedly Häckel, who can be regarded as the chief representative of the doctrine
of Descent in Darwin's sense; and the luminous, comprehensive and self-evolving
description of the essential in its fourth edition, "Natural History of Creation," is
indeed very well suited to give a clear insight into this doctrine. I confess myself to
having been converted to it after a long struggle against the doctrine of descent. To be
sure, according to its previous structure, it is not free of difficulties, improbabilities,
gaps, and hypotheses that are not as certain as the facts to be linked by them. So why
adhere to them at all? Simply because any other doctrine by which to replace the
doctrine of descent suffers disproportionately from the same imperfections. In fact,
here is a fundamental either, or: development of the higher levels of organization
from the lower, or re-creation of each higher level so to speak from the primitive
sludge; and if we do not want to accept the latter, what does a merely negative or
merely miserable opposition to the former cause? which are not as sure as the facts to
be linked by them. So why adhere to them at all? Simply because any other doctrine
by which to replace the doctrine of descent suffers disproportionately from the same
imperfections. In fact, here is a fundamental either, or: development of the higher
levels of organization from the lower, or re-creation of each higher level so to speak
from the primitive sludge; and if we do not want to accept the latter, what does a
merely negative or merely miserable opposition to the former cause? which are not as
sure as the facts to be linked by them. So why adhere to them at all? Simply because
any other doctrine by which to replace the doctrine of descent suffers
disproportionately from the same imperfections. In fact, here is a fundamental either,
or: development of the higher levels of organization from the lower, or re-creation of
each higher level so to speak from the primitive sludge; and if we do not want to
accept the latter, what does a merely negative or merely miserable opposition to the
former cause? In fact, here is a fundamental either, or: development of the higher
levels of organization from the lower, or re-creation of each higher level so to speak
from the primitive sludge; and if we do not want to accept the latter, what does a
merely negative or merely miserable opposition to the former cause? In fact, here is a
fundamental either, or: development of the higher levels of organization from the
lower, or re-creation of each higher level so to speak from the primitive sludge; and if
we do not want to accept the latter, what does a merely negative or merely miserable
opposition to the former cause?
Specialists who find themselves unaffected by the question may leave it aside; but
it is associated with too many and too important general questions to ever leave them
aside; instead of turning away from her, it is important to look her straight in the
face. And if one must concede the basic point of the doctrine of descent, then the only
thing left to do is to lift the imperfections of its execution, to replace the untenable
with something more durable. Already various attempts have been made in this
regard, without being found quite striking so far. This script also tries to come up
with some ideas that have to wait for their success.
In fact, one has to distinguish what is essential for the foundation and development
of the doctrine of descent, and what is not, which is a matter of fact and matter of its
interpretation; and in this respect by no means does everything stand so firm and
secure as it would appear after the expression of the doctrine of descent by its most
determined adherents. Rather, I believe that an advantage in raising important
difficulties and greater receptivity to the whole doctrine is the deepening of its
general principles, a modification of its view of basic organic constitution, and an
overturning of the view of the very first origin of organisms. I look for the deepening
in the establishment of a general principle, which understands all organic
evolutionary laws among themselves (III and XI. ), and what I would like to
recommend as the principle of the tendency to stability of the researchers' attention in
so far as not only the demand, as often asserted against Darwin and Haeckel, of a
uniform plan of organic development, but also beyond Thus, the underlying demand
for an agreement of the teleological and causal principle of the entire event finds its
satisfaction in a clear, precisely worded expression. The modification I seek in that I
make the basic organic properties not dependent on a peculiar chemical constitution
and related aggregate form of matter, but on a molecular state of motion (I. and what
I would like to recommend under the title as the principle of the tendency for the
researchers' attention to be drawn in so far as not only the demand, so often argued
against Darwin and Haeckel, of a uniform plan of organic development, but also the
requirement beyond that An agreement of the teleological and causal principle of the
entire event finds its satisfaction in a clear, precisely worded expression. The
modification I seek in that I make the basic organic properties not dependent on a
peculiar chemical constitution and related aggregate form of matter, but on a
molecular state of motion (I. and what I would like to recommend under the title as
the principle of the tendency for the researchers' attention to be drawn in so far as not
only the demand, so often argued against Darwin and Haeckel, of a uniform plan of
organic development, but also the requirement beyond that An agreement of the
teleological and causal principle of the entire event finds its satisfaction in a clear,
precisely worded expression. The modification I seek in that I make the basic organic
properties not dependent on a peculiar chemical constitution and related aggregate
form of matter, but on a molecular state of motion (I. The demand for a uniform plan
of organic development, but also the further demand for an agreement of the
teleological and causal principle of the entire event, finds its satisfaction in a clear,
form of matter, but on a molecular state of motion (I. The demand for a uniform plan
of organic development, but also the further demand for an agreement of the
teleological and causal principle of the entire event, finds its satisfaction in a clear,
form of matter, but on a molecular state of motion (I. . II); The overthrow, finally, is
that I substitute the view, which has since been considered necessary, and yet
stubbornly avoids the probation of a primary origin of organisms from the inorganic
realm, by a view which, following the original state of the earth, follows in a straight
line the opposite direction (V.), with which much, which as consequence of the
previous view seemed to stand firmly in the doctrine of descent, at the same time
reversed (VIII).
With all this, Darwin's laws of breeding by modification, inheritance, and struggle
for existence, in which the essence of his doctrine remains, remain in the right; only
that the principle of the struggle for existence here merely appears as a corrective or
supplement to another principle of still superior rights (principle of relative
differentiation, VI.), which, of course, like most in this writing and in the doctrine of
descent, is only hypothetical It seems, however, to be appropriate to remedy many
hair-raising improbabilities which, according to the previous hypotheses of the
doctrine of descent, are still left over.
Finally, I can only raise the contradiction raised by most and most decisive
representatives of Darwin's doctrine against the participation of a conscious creative
activity in the formation and development of organisms, only in an internal
contradiction of their own views of those opponents and one among exact naturalists
only referenced, found erroneous reasons, about which some remarks in the last
sections.
The state of my eyes has not permitted me to follow the extensive literature on the
Darwinian doctrine in its entirety and in all its specialties, which would have kept me
from publishing these ideas, if not in general terms As a mere specialty of the
doctrine acted, and not here ways of contemplation would have struck, which emerge
at all from the hitherto entered or lead out. This does not hinder that this and that may
have escaped me, which might have been the occasion; Also, the fact that this work is
based only on a general recollection of the content of the writings and treatises on
Darwinian doctrine which have come to my knowledge, without the possibility of
special decline, could be written down, in debt, that one will miss special references
to the individual authors here. Because of both shortcomings I wish to find leniency
in judging this writing; they would only weigh heavily if the peculiar content of this
writing were of no importance. But I wish you an unbiased exam. Subsequent to a
more detailed explanation of an expression used several times in the first section:
On the other hand, if a point b moves with respect to a point a , for brevity I will
keep the sign of its position unchanged until the motion of its radius vector does not
exceed 180 ° to any side, conversely, as the case may be is.
Content.
I. Distinction of the organic from the inorganic molecular state and relations between
the two
II. Reasons for the previous opinion
III. Principle of the tendency to stability
IV. Application of the previous principle to organic conditions
V. Cosmoganical Relations. The origin of organisms
VI. Principle of relative differentiation
VII. Principle of decreasing changeability
VIII. Different developmental relationships of the organic kingdom, which, assuming
its cosmic origin, require a substantially different conception than before
IX. Descent of man
X. Some geological hypotheses and paleontological fantasies
XI. Teleological and psychophysical utilization of the principle of the tendency to
stability
XII. beliefs
I.
Distinction of the organic from the inorganic molecular state
and relationships between the two.
If we try to form an idea of organic constitution in its difference from the inorganic,
I would not know which more appropriate, if any, other which one could undertake
than the following, to which I give the reasons in the following paragraphs.
If we understand molecules of very small masses at all, whose particles, through
mutually expressed forces, are in closer union with each other than with neighboring
masses, then the state of the inorganic molecules is in short that the particles of which
they are composed by their mutual Effect with the assistance of inertia, the order in
which they are ranked, not change, that can not change the sign of the situation with
the neighboring particles, which does not exclude that they are in vibrational states
against each other, which leave this order unchanged, including the Vibrations must
be small enough against the distance in which the particles are at the middle point of
their movement. You can add
In any case, it is believed that the greater or lesser temperature of the molecules is
due to more or less wide vibrations of not only the particles of the ether but also of
the particles in the molecules which can be weighed. Now, if the limit of the
decreasing oscillation would be a fixed equilibrium of the particles with respect to
each other, it can be said that the particles in inorganic molecules make oscillations
around fixed equilibrium positions, which does not exclude that the mean location of
the oscillating particles, which can not be confused with them changed oscillation
amplitude changes, as one must in fact assume, if the expansion phenomena, which
one perceives at systems of inorganic molecules with increasing temperature,
On the other hand, the state of the organic molecules, as long as their viability is, in
short, is that the particles of which they consist always have the order in which they
are arranged at any time, through mutual action, with the assistance of inertia switch
again, the sign of di their relative position against each other always reversed again as
it can be done by Kreislaufs- and other intricate movements of the particles relative to
one another 1) .
1)A molecule, which would be understood in a simple rotation with equal
angular velocity of all its particles about an axis passing through its center of
gravity without displacement of the particles against each other, would
nevertheless, that the particles always change the sign of their position again,
but only then Terms of an organic molecule correspond, if this state of motion
would be maintained by the internal forces of the molecule. However, insofar
as the rotation of a molecule towards the particles which are firmly against one
another or which move only against each other by heat oscillations can proceed
uniformly only by inertia and can only be changed by external forces in the
direction, it still falls under the concept of the inorganic.
Insofar as the phenomena of heat depend hardly on the form, but on the living force
of molecular movements, an intensified living force of such movements may just as
well represent an increased heat of the organic molecules, as an increased living force
of the vibrations, which with their increased amplitude related, that of the inorganic.
To give a graphic indication of the difference between inorganic and organic
molecules, let us explain the difference between two physical systems. A salt crystal,
in which the particles, when not firmly against each other, without external pressure
or tension, only make vibrations relative to one another by heat, gives us a picture of
the proportions of the particles in the inorganic molecules; only that in these we have
to assume a smaller number of particles in relatively greater distances (in relation to
their dimensions); on the other hand, our solar system, in the relations of celestial
bodies which enter into it, gives a picture of the behavior of the particles in an
organic molecule.
Insofar as we find the earth and the planetary system so formed under the influence
of the attractive force of gravitation that the compression of the mass (thought to be
distributed over the spatial extent of the whole) increases in accordance with the
center of gravity of the system, we may say that it is unknown Laws, but in any case
analogous molecular force, whereby the particles of an organic molecule are held
together around their center of gravity, depending on the corresponding success; and
should simple cells be regarded as simple organic molecules, then the stronger
constriction of the particles, in short, greater tightness, might assert itself visually in
the appearance of a nucleus about the center itself, and give rise to an easier
consolidation; whereas the slight strengthening of the size of the porous cell-skin may
be due to another aspect, in that the rarer particles at the circumference of the
molecule, like those at the periphery of our planetary system, are slower than those of
the middle, but because of their small accumulation there are interstitials for
communication leave between the cell contents. But I give this only for
assumptions. It may also be questionable whether simple appearing cells are really to
be regarded as the simplest organic molecules, and not rather as organic associations
of such in the immediately to be given sense; in which case, however, similar ratios
for the center and circumference of the cell could be due to the organic association of
the organic molecules contained therein, when they were established between the
particles of the molecules that the rarer particles at the circumference of the molecule,
like those at the periphery of our planetary system, move more slowly than the center,
but because of their small accumulation, leave interstitials for the communication
between the cell contents. But I give this only for assumptions. It may also be
questionable whether simple appearing cells are really to be regarded as the simplest
organic molecules, and not rather as organic associations of such in the immediately
to be given sense; in which case, however, similar ratios for the center and
circumference of the cell could be due to the organic association of the organic
molecules contained therein, when they were established between the particles of the
molecules that the rarer particles at the circumference of the molecule, like those at
the periphery of our planetary system, move more slowly than the center, but because
of their small accumulation, leave interstitials for the communication between the cell
contents. But I give this only for assumptions. It may also be questionable whether
simple appearing cells are really to be regarded as the simplest organic molecules,
and not rather as organic associations of such in the immediately to be given sense; in
which case, however, similar ratios for the center and circumference of the cell could
be due to the organic association of the organic molecules contained therein, when
they were established between the particles of the molecules because of their small
accumulation but leave interstitials for the communication between the cell
they were established between the particles of the molecules because of their small
accumulation but leave interstitials for the communication between the cell
they were established between the particles of the molecules whether to consider
simply appearing cells really as the simplest organic molecules, and not rather as
organic associations of such in the immediately to be given sense; in which case,
however, similar ratios for the center and circumference of the cell could be due to
the organic association of the organic molecules contained therein, when they were
established between the particles of the molecules whether to consider simply
appearing cells really as the simplest organic molecules, and not rather as organic
associations of such in the immediately to be given sense; in which case, however,
similar ratios for the center and circumference of the cell could be due to the organic
association of the organic molecules contained therein, when they were established
between the particles of the molecules2) .
If we speak of the proportions of the particles of the molecules to each other on the
relations of the whole molecules to each other, then without direct observation we can
deduce from the established concepts of the two molecules on the one hand and facts
on the other hand the following conclusions, to which it will be useful. anticipate the
attention.
2)In order to establish an analogy for it, so also in star clusters, there is a
greater concentration of the stars towards the center of the heap, than
indisputably in each individual star the density of the mass grows towards the
center.
When an inorganic molecule comes into contact with another in such proximity as
appears to our senses to be in contact, that molecular forces between them
predominate over the action of gravity, the success may be threefold. Either one
molecule is elastically thrown back by the other after an enforced approximation
caused by external forces, like a billiard ball upon impact with another, for this
success in whole billiard balls may depend only on such a ratio of the molecules
coming into apparent contact; or they adhere to each other in such a way that between
the molecules the same proportion occurs as between the particles of each molecule
except that the cohesive force between the molecules is weaker than between the
particles of the molecules, What we briefly call the inorganic union of inorganic
molecules is based not only on the adhesion phenomena between inorganic bodies,
but also on the cohesion of inorganic molecules in them, as long as the molecules are
still distinguishable as particular. Or thirdly, the molecules coming into contact mix in
such a way that one-sidedly or mutually, particles pass from one to the other, and the
condition which exists for the particles of distinguishable molecules, only relative to
each other fixed equilibrium positions without changing the order in the sense
indicated, it is left, but rather, when going over each other, they change the sign of
their positions against each other, but only in one sense, whereupon the phenomena
of the dissolution of solid bodies, the diffusion and chemical compounding and
decomposition phenomena which occur between unequally concentrated resolutions
or chemically different masses, with the success propagating from the molecules
immediately adjacent to one another to the others, without the change in character of
the layer, thereby passing between the particles each two neighboring molecules
enters, can be reversed by a retrograde movement of particles between the same
molecules again. All solutions, diffusions, chemical compounds between inorganic
masses, however, only go there, due to the position and order shifts that they are
currently initiating,3) .
3)This does not hinder that under the external influence of cosmic remote
forces very irregular movements of the particles of sea and air pass away, but
which would soon be at rest when these remote forces ceased to work.
In dripping liquid inorganic masses, the association is of the kind that the
displacement of the molecules against each other by external forces is equally easy on
all sides, but in solids is different in different directions, and the resistance to
displacement is generally greater. In gaseous bodies no association of molecules takes
place at all.
When organic molecules come into apparent proximity with organic molecules, so
that molecular forces between their mutual particles become effective, a triple case
can be conceived just as with inorganic molecules.
The case, however, which we are not interested in here, is that after a violent
rapprochement they rebound elastically from each other, with which no union can
ever come to be, secondly, that they adhere to each other according to the principle of
inorganic connection, namely, that they (on their own Focal points reduced thought)
only against each other oscillations around relatively firm equilibrium positions,
while they perform movements of specified character, in short organic movements,
which, if such systems exist at all, appearances as we observe such systems of
systems of inorganic molecules, So let's expect the lack of vital signs and
viability. Finally, thirdly, that the particles and motions of the molecules brought
together are mixed in kind, that particles change from one into the other, changing
their position and direction, and then re-establishing a connection between the two,
which may be more or less intimate, varying between the two limits, that only the
particles orbiting at the outermost circumference of the molecules to transform their
movement into a process circulating between them or both, while the rest still carry
out cycles and otherwise movements which remain for each molecule, and that the
totality of the particles of both molecules is alternately brought out to each other on
both sides complete fusion of both into a new molecule has been achieved. Between
these two limits there may be all possible intermediate degrees of fusion, and hereby
of organic union. In any case, as the approach grows, the growth of fusion must
proceed from the outer to the inner particles, because, of course, the particles moving
along the circumference of each molecule may more readily and more easily follow
the attraction of the other molecule than those moving around the middle. If the
particles are held in a moment of motion and the system of both molecules is
solidified, the partial fusion of both takes the form of two separate denser nuclei
within a looser parenchyma surrounding them and interconnecting them Fusion of
molecules at the expense of the nuclei more and more thickened. In reality, however,
one must think of both the nuclei and the parenchyma of moving particles, as long as
the organic state fully exists. Just as two molecules may have separate nuclei in the
sense given, while they are fused together from the perimeter, so too may whole
series of molecules take place, and through the parenchyma, not rigidified but alive, a
continuity of organic motion between them be communicated throughout the series.
But further, as we can conceive step by step mergers of organic molecules, then,
only in the opposite direction, stepwise divisions of them, so that the process of
division begins with the nucleus, as it concludes in the process of fusion. Whole
series of partially fused molecules, however, can only be conceived by the fact that
they divide without giving up an organic compound, after they have increased in
nutrition, and again divide, and so on. And it is indisputable that all development of
the organisms is fundamentally dependent on such a progressive division attributed to
organic molecules. It may be remarkably questionable whether even the simplest cell
nucleus cells are simple molecules rather than associations. in which the molecules
are stored to the center to denser than to the extent to view. It is also possible, if not
proven, to understand how such a union, in which all the molecules are connected by
a common parenchyma, which grows in density towards the interior of the dressing,
may just as well give rise to nourishment as a whole, starting from the denser core,
than is true of the simple molecules themselves.
Now inorganic molecules, too, can be combined with organic, and whole inorganic
compounds with organic dressings, in a double way, either by adhering to one another
according to the principle of inorganic union, as the oyster and snail do on the other
that is, that the mutual molecules can make heat vibrations against each other, but
without passing particles between them and exchanging the sign of their position, or
so that the latter occurs, which we briefly call matter-traffic between the two. As a
result, either unilaterally constituents of the inorganic molecules, if not whole
inorganic molecules, can be absorbed into the organic ones and enter into the
complicated internal movements of the same, in that, at the same time, the organic
molecules nourish themselves, and grow on condition that they give nothing back; or,
conversely, constituents of the organic molecules may separate out and combine with
the inorganic molecules according to the principle of inorganic union, or even whole
organic molecules may be converted into inorganic and inorganically bonded with the
neighboring inorganic, and with it the inorganic masses, if they are of no use On the
contrary, give up, grow. In this way not only the bones and shells of the animals grow,
but in such a way also secretions of liquids in the organisms come about. Or, finally,
third, organic molecules take up components of inorganic,
In all this there is no definite boundary between organic and inorganic states
according to experience and conception, and the difference must only be made more
relative insofar as the states approach one or the other mode of determination of the
concept; standing conclusions approach one or the other trap. Cells, skins, cell nuclei,
and bone parts, which are not yet completely removed from the inner metabolism,
may be regarded as connections of particles, which change the order in which they
are arranged against each other only very slowly, and so far approximately under the
concept of inorganic Parts, without fully conforming to them, are what one may keep
in mind when, for brevity, we consider such parts simply as inorganic parts of
organisms, and in this sense denote as mixed systems of organic and inorganic
parts; However, it is questionable whether there are completely inorganic parts in
organisms in our sense. According to this, there is no definite limit between the two
types of dressing which organic molecules can make up with inorganic molecules.
In any case, all higher organisms, and questionable, if not even the lowest, are to be
regarded as mixed systems between organic and inorganic parts, if not under strict, at
least approximate application of the latter concept. However, as both may combine in
such a mixed system, there is probably the condition for a connection of the
phenomena of life in every plant, animal and plant-animal organism, that the organic
association of organic molecules is a continuous one. If this continuity is not to be
superseded by inserted solid parts of bone, it may be interrupted only in certain
directions, while continuing in other directions; and cells should not fall out of the
organic compound,
It is also indisputable to think of systems in which inorganic molecules, whose
particles oscillate against each other only by relatively fixed equilibrium positions,
are in motion with each other, as we seek them in the particles of organic molecules,
in short organic movements; and it is possible that in the nutritional processes of
organisms, whole inorganic molecules, without abandoning the inorganic relationship
of their particles to each other, are involved in the complicated process of movement
of the organic molecules, which in the phenomena of life dependent on the organic
movements in the molecules the whole organism can not substantiate a significant
difference. On the other hand, as far as safe experiences are by the mere interaction of
inorganic molecules or inorganic compounds, as one may also vary and combine
solutions, diffusions, chemical effects, to arrive at no states which would be
accompanied by the character of the phenomena of life; and it will further be shown
that we also do not need to accept the emergence of organic states from states which
correspond to the concept of the inorganic. (Abschn.V.)
In fact, in every organic or inorganic molecule or system, such as a mixed system,
internal and external forces interact with inertia to condition the respective state of
rest or motion of the particles; yet we can divide up to a certain extent what is to be
regarded as the success of the external and what is the success of the internal causes,
the forces in composition with the never-missing inertia, and, in any case, not regard
internal changes merely as the success of external causes or forces which occur in
constant external circumstances, or which stand entirely out of proportion with their
changes, or, instead of propagating from the external to the internal, as is the case
with external influences which are not caused by appreciable remote forces, a whole
mass of noticeable size, Inner and outer, at once in connection, or even propagate
from the inside to the outside; which does not exclude the possibility that these states
may also change as a result of changing external circumstances, have been triggered
by external suggestions, and have been different in other external circumstances.
Let us now briefly describe the dependence on internal forces as spontaneity, the
dependence on the external as receptivity, a definition which, though it essentially has
for us only the purpose of a shortened designation of factual relations, but also quite
well into the traditional conception of these concepts but only here they find
themselves related to the material realm, while one usually prefers or at least has the
spiritual field in mind. But with the above it is no less excluded that there is a psychic
connection with physical spontaneity which, when it exceeds the psychophysical
threshold, which is not necessary everywhere, is felt as a driving force for the change
of a state, and with the physical of the same legality subject,
Insofar as we hold ourselves on the physical side, we will be able to say from the
previous that inorganic molecules can spontaneously change only the place, organic
and also the order of their particles.
II.
Reasons for the previous opinion.
The reasons for previous understanding of the inorganic and organic state are as
follows:
In any case, there is no reason in the facts to regard the state of the inorganic bodies
differently; Rather, the facts of crystallization and elasticity merge with the preceding
idea, and it is all the less necessary to be in any detail about it, since the inorganic
state has never been understood differently, but without ever becoming clear
consciousness have, that the organic can not possibly be understood like that.
By the action of external forces of pressure and tension, however, the order of the
molecules in inorganic bodies can be shifted very much against each other, and it is
conceivable that only to a lesser degree can the order of the particles of the molecules
themselves be shifted thereby; but this does not contradict the characteristic of the
inorganic state, since it merely states the impossibility of such a displacement by
internal forces of the molecules. In addition, in the case of such forces, the particles
soon return to each other by oscillations of decreasing amplitude either in the old
order, or assume a new one in which they remain without access to new external
forces; the former, if the elastic limit was not exceeded by tension or pressure, the
latter, if it was the case.
On the dissolution, diffusion and chemical processes between inorganic masses,
which may give rise to shifts in order in a certain direction, I do not come back to
what has been said above.
As to the organic state, it seems from a mechanical point of view easier to conceive
of the formation of motions with changes in the order of the particles than of
vibrations about relatively fixed equilibrium positions with observance of a fixed
order; Indeed, under the mere influence of forces, whether it be the law of gravity or
some other law of attraction or repulsion, without changing the sign of the direction
with the removal of the particles, would be the possibility of states of motion of the
last kind, as far as I overlook it not to think. But if the phenomena speak in favor of
the fact that such things can find place, and thus have any forces to do so, they prove
from the other side that not all material forces are of the kind, otherwise the continual
movements of the planets could not occur. But once it must be conceded that there
are powers which permit one and the other, there may also be among the molecular
forces which permit both one and the other1) ; and that this really is so, is directly
proved by the fact that the characteristic phenomena, whereby the organic differ from
inorganic systems, can be explained thereby and in no other way.
1) For details see s. in addition to the end of this section.
The simplest organic being we know of is a structureless microscopic or, at most,
pinhead-sized protoplasmic globule, a so-called moner, or a similarly constituted
white blood-bead, or an amoeba representing a simple naked cell with cell-nucleus,
all manifold changes in shape, displacing a mass of rubber If the order of the particles
by external pressure is able to assume spontaneously, then there is no explanation in
the conditions of the inorganic state; On the other hand, the formation of such
spontaneous changes of form under our assumptions about the organic state can very
well be represented, whether it be
In fact, under the first condition, the particles of the molecule, in the course of their
order-changing motion, may soon be gathered within a spherical, sometimes within
an elongated, cylindrical space, and between them, as long as there are no restrictive
conditions of free movement, the most varied forms in which we always think of the
figure as defined by surfaces which are laid out by the outermost particles. This does
not mean that all these changes of shape, which are compatible with the organic state
from a general point of view, will really occur in every moner, for it does not really
accomplish all sorts of things; which can arise from the existing motions of the
particles with the help of variable external excitations; nothing prevents the material
impulses, insofar as they are really spontaneous, from being accompanied by
perceived spontaneous impulses, indeed, to think of them as intrinsic phenomena,
insofar as the psychophysical threshold is exceeded2) . We shall admit, even after a
general principle to be discussed later, that without variable external stimuli, the state
of motion of the particles, and hence the change in shape of the whole molecule,
would end in a more or less stable state of periodicity, and finally end in such a state
without admitting it. that this state would consist in oscillations of the particles
around relatively fixed equilibrium positions, which the particles in spontaneous
molecules spontaneously strive for.
2) According to the description in my "Elements of Psychophysics," every
material process which, by its nature or form, is fit to carry sensation, or even a
consciousness-phenomenon, requires a certain degree of liveliness or strength
(living force), which I call the threshold. so that the phenomenon really enters
consciousness; as long as the threshold is not exceeded, the phenomenon
remains "unconscious" and one could regard it as if the material process alone
were present, if the movements under the threshold were not just
phychophysically used, which is so great in psychology Role-playing field of
the unconscious, as the movements above the threshold represent that of the
conscious. My views in these respects differ significantly from the
Hartmanns but this is not necessary to carry out here, since here it was only
necessary to explain the concept of the threshold, which is still repeated a few
times, as I understand it. In order to get a brief picture of how iron only
becomes glowing when it is heated to a certain degree, consciousness only
bursts out when the process to which it is able to establish exceeds a certain
degree of strength.
Now, one wonders whether even the simplest organisms we know are really as
uniformly constituted masses as they appear under the microscope; but if we look at
them, rather than for simple organic molecules, for systems of such in organic
association, the former view does not change substantially. For, according to the
notion that we have made of an organic group of organic molecules, such must be
able to spontaneously assume all the changes in shape that an elastic tissue with
enclosed solid spheres can accept receptively by external forces of pressure and
tension; here the solid spheres are represented by the nuclei of molecules whose
particles do not interplay between the molecules.
But even as a mixed system we might consider the moner, for example, by
impregnating it with inorganic fluid, or thinking it through an invisible, but flexible,
inorganic net; then the spontaneity of organic motions would have no other obstacle
to it, than that it would require the removal of inorganic masses from the organic to
which they adhere.
Not less, cells with a cell-skin will be able to spontaneously change their shape
spontaneously, as long as the firmness of the cell-skin has not changed into rigidity. If
this is the case, then of course this possibility of change of form ceases, but this does
not exclude that the contents of the cell are in organic motion, and this movement
continues itself through the interstices of the cell-skin, as indisputably happens in the
plants.
If spontaneous changes of form of beings as simple as we are considered are
possible by virtue of their organic constitution, spontaneous locomotions of course
are possible under the influence of external resistance, without the need for the
addition of a new principle.
The spontaneous changes of form and locomotions of the most complex organisms
can be explained by the same principles; only that here, because of the insertion of
larger rigid masses or attachment of the organic parts to such changes of shape and
the ways of locomotion dependent therefrom, they may be restricted and banished to
definite forms, as is not the case with those simplest beings.
It has been found that rotifers and other small organisms can be brought to an
apparently dead inorganic state by drying, but can be brought back to life by
moistening, if only the temperature during drying does not increase until the protein
coagulates. It would undoubtedly be difficult to imagine, even though the possibility
of this not being generally denied, such as the addition of inorganic water to an
inorganic group of inorganic molecules, should encourage the awakening of new life
movements, as well as the permanent, dead state of dry animals the coagulation of the
protein differs from that which still allows a reawakening. Both in connection but
represent themselves, when, in the dry animals capable of resuscitation, we keep the
organic motions still in the organic molecules, but suspended between them, so that
the whole animal appears in a rigid state; whether it is that a skeleton penetrating the
animal solidifies, or the skin surrounding it passes, or the organic molecules
themselves enter into solid inorganic union, whereas in the animals no longer capable
of resuscitation the organic movements in the molecules themselves are abolished, or
rather in themselves have transformed mere heat vibrations. In any case, if there were
organic movements in the molecules before the animals dried out, there is no clear
reason why why, by depriving the inorganic water interposed therebetween, they
should change their form into that of heat oscillations, as a reason which declared
that, if the transformation had taken place, by mere addition of water, the inorganic
motion could be re-transformed into organic; It seems, therefore, to me most probable
that so long as the revival by the addition of water is still possible, the organic
movements in the organic molecules of the dried animals still persist.
From the same point of view as the dried rotifers, the kernels of grain remaining in
the dry state for millennia will be viewed from the pyramids, which require
humidification only to germinate; and the difference between them and other seeds
which are no longer germinatable, can also be found in the fact that in them but not in
them the organic movements within the organic molecules still persist. Now, perhaps
for the first sight one may find it hard to imagine that such movements should last so
long; but why heavier in this form than in the form of heat-vibrations, which never
cease in bodies that are not absolutely cold.
Finally, it will be possible to draw the case that frozen infusoria and even frogs,
after careful re-thawing, may awaken to new life, as at least recently has been
decidedly asserted, while in most organisms freezing causes permanent death. As
little as by removing the water interposed between the organic molecules, the organic
movements within these molecules necessarily change the shape into that of the
inorganic heat vibrations, this requires a lowering of the temperature at which the
interposed water freezes and thereby the whole of the organism Freezing,
bringing; Rather, it could only diminish the amplitude of the organic and inorganic
movements, and begin the old play of life after thawing.
Of course, these are only hypothetical ways of thinking that I find it useful to
remember because of the inclination to attach fundamental importance to the
phenomena of resuscitation of dried and frozen organisms in the exploration of the
cause of the phenomena of life that they would indeed have if the molecular states
involved are more a matter of observation than of hypothesis.
The movements of liquids in the organisms can, however, in part be explained quite
well according to the principle of diffusion (endosmosis, exosmosis) and attraction
between the particles of chemically different liquids, as those also occur between
inorganic masses; But if such motions were to succeed only according to this
principle, then, as an end result, an adjustment in the sense given in (1), which does
not occur, should be expected as long as life persists; whereas it is very conceivable
that in systems in which the particles can not exchange their mutual position merely
in one sense, such an adjustment does not come about. In addition, the movements of
fluids in organic channels generally depend on rhythmic muscle contractions,
That some chemical products of organic activity can also be produced outside the
organisms in laboratories must be admitted; and one can not predict what will be
possible in this relation at all; In any case, one must regard the play of chemical
affinities through the process of life as altered; and, at least in general, it may be
thought possible that the peculiar process of motion in organic molecules has an
influence thereon; and this is confirmed by the fact that, as well as the phenomena of
life, which cause us to become dependent on the organic movement in our sense,
cease, as soon as a decay announcing itself through the onset of decay takes place.
Summing up all this, I can scarcely accept the established view of basic organic
constitution as merely a hypothesis, but rather consider it essentially impelled by the
impossibility of explaining the life phenomena of organisms other than on their
basis. In addition, it will offer us a point of attack to make the first emergence of the
organisms in a primitive time of the earth conceivable, without having to resort to the
generatio aequivoca.
It has certainly been thought that, in a particularly complex composition and a
consequent state of aggregation, one finds the cause of the peculiar phenomena of life
in the organisms; and, indeed, the difference of the organic constitution may be
favored by inorganic chemistry through a complex chemical composition, but it is not
necessarily given by it; for an egg can pass from the organic into the inorganic state
by boiling, without altering its complex chemical constitution, as long as we keep it
characterized by the lack of the phenomena of life or the capacity of development
which the organic state presents. lndessen remains doubtful and can not be decided
by experience, whether in this case only the organic association or the internal
organic constitution of the molecules is destroyed, as has already been pointed out
earlier (Chapter I), that an inorganic association of organic molecules is also
conceivable. And so it remains conceivable that a certain chemical constitution is
essential for the organic state of the molecules, and that with such a state this state is
essentially given. But should it be so, which I put completely, then it could be only in
so far as movements of their particles of the kind described would be compatible only
with such and no other chemical constitution of the molecules, and the same applies
to the firm state organic masses. Really, there are solid inorganic states enough, in
which there is no talk of a life phenomenon. The fundamental, therefore, remains the
state of motion, not the chemical constitution or the state of aggregation.
Even with the same chemical composition, inorganic molecules can still be
distinguished by deviations in the arrangement and distance of the particles and,
subsequently, by inorganic formation, form masses of very different chemical and
physical properties. Now, basically, it is just one more circumstance that allows
molecules to differ, though such may differ by the state of motion of the particles. But
not only organic of inorganic molecules, but also organic ones among themselves,
will be able to distinguish themselves by being reduced to the comparatively simple,
little variation vibrational states of the particles in the inorganic molecules, which
may reduce to more or less disturbed rectilinear and elliptical the most varied kinds
of entangled movement in organic molecules are conceivable; and it appears even to
the first sight, that under the same external temperature conditions the development
of different kinds of germs, apparently chemically identical and surrounded by the
same protein, can not be explained except with regard to such differences; It must be
assumed that in every egg from which another creature can develop, a molecule or
compound of molecules with characteristically different internal states of motion
forms the nucleus; also it is not impossible that something of the kind takes
place. But I think it is more probable that the tendency already mentioned above,
which will soon be discussed, to stable states of motion, all organic molecules of the
same chemical composition are attributed to a similar state of internal circulatory
movements, which can only be disturbed by external influences; and that different
developability of seemingly identical germs is due to a different association of
organic molecules, insofar as they fuse in different degrees according to
corresponding directions or based on the fact that the organic molecules are
combined with inorganic in various ways; the impossibility of perceiving internal
differences of the species, even microscopically, may depend on the smallness or
uniform transparency of the parts to be distinguished. Necessarily, differences of one
kind or another will be associated with different nutritional and dividing relations of
the molecules, from which a different development of the germs must result. In fact,
if we only need to follow the evolution of a born creature from its birth back to the
first germination, we come to such ideas, which in any case hitherto prevailed that the
germs owe their distinct developability to a hidden diversity of chemical constitution.
deserve the preference.
What remains to be explained in ours as in any other view of the mode of evolution
of the organisms is the fact that the germs which separate the formed creature, by
passing through a series of metamorphoses, are the organic form and organization of
the mother-body, albeit with greater or lesser variations, to reproduce. Let us confess
that We can not trace the mechanical course, but there is a very general principle
which casts a very general light not only on the realization of this success, but also on
the mode of development of the whole organic empire, indeed of the whole world in
the manner in which it will be set up, to a certain extent as a priori, moreover as
empirical, inasmuch as empiricism can not furnish a rigorous and general proof, as
well suited to the general connection of the facts of the field which concerns us It
may be hypothetical, while by its nature it may be amenable to general mathematical
justification and execution, and such will undoubtedly still be found. In short, I call it
the principle of the tendency to stability.
Additive.
In the 25th chapt. In my Theory of Atoms (2nd ed.) I sought to show how, by a
certain generalization, one can arrive at the assumption of multiple forces (ie, which
are determined in solidarity by the interaction of more than two particles), which
changes with the atomic number of the force ( depending on the effect of two, three,
four, etc. particles on each other) change the sign and decrease the faster the distance,
the higher the atomic number, so that, depending on the change in the distance of the
particles from each other soon attractive, soon repulsive multiple forces gain the
preponderance, but at measurable distances gravitation, in order of the lowest, the
binary, remains the only attractive force. Even the ternary force is still attractive
under the general principle of these forces, and is at the same distances of all three
particles in inverse proportion to the sixth power of the same, but the quaternary and
quinary are repulsive, etc. If the principle of these forces remains hypothetical, yet
the possibility of this has occasionally been acknowledged by exact investigators,
although an exact proof and utilization of it is still subject to great difficulties. In any
case, by appellation on the imaginability of the circumstances under consideration
here can be facilitated. If the principle of these forces is still hypothetical, its potential
is occasionally acknowledged by exact investigators, although an exact proof and
utilization of it is still subject to great difficulties. In any case, by appellation on the
imaginability of the circumstances under consideration here can be facilitated. If the
principle of these forces is still hypothetical, its potential is occasionally
acknowledged by exact investigators, although an exact proof and utilization of it is
still subject to great difficulties. In any case, by appellation on the imaginability of
the circumstances under consideration here can be facilitated.
In the case of the binary force of gravitation, the product merely reduces to a
negative distance square in the ternary, it is composed of 3, in the quaternary force 6,
in the quinary 10 negative squares go into the product; so the binary and ternary
powers are attractive, the quaternary and quinary repulsive, and so on
If one allows the presence of these forces, one will have the following idea. In the
first very extensive state of the earth the particles of it were so far away that only the
binary force of gravitation between them was noticeable, under the influence of
which, however, according to the considerations to be set forth in the fifth section,
already motions arose which our conception correspond to organic
movements; therefore I call this state cosmorganic. But gradually the mass contracted
to such an extent that ternary molecular force became predominant over binary
gravitation between the particles thus approximated: and under the main influence of
this ternary force are our organic states, which I call a closer distinction from the
cosmorganic molecular organics. The inorganic states are mainly due to thermal
oscillations of the particles around equilibrium positions at distances at which the
ternary attractive force passes into the quaternary repulsive one another. In compound
molecules, higher-order elemental combinations may well come into play with higher
order forces.
On the assumption that this conception is correct, inorganic molecules must be
more dense than organic ones with the same chemical composition, but from this it
does not follow that a whole organism must condense itself through death, hereby
transition into an inorganic state, since the constituents are made worse by
putrefaction or heating separate. If this does not happen immediately with death, it
may be partly due to the fact that the organic constitution does not suddenly change
into the inorganic, since the irritability of the muscles lasts for some time after death,
and partly because the organisms of one more or less inorganic skeletons of skin,
tendons, bones, etc., are traversed, which preserve their conditions in death.
In the foregoing view, I have additionally cited the hypothesis of multiple forces,
because it seems to be well-suited to the ideas to be developed in this work, and
seems to provide a basis for the presentation of the force-relationships which come
into play in the process; However, I am far from putting emphasis on this, because so
far it remains only an unproven hypothesis, although otherwise offering some
advantages, and different views on the nature of molecular forces are possible and
already established. Nor is it necessary for the general public, in which the
observations of this document are based, to make a specific hypothesis about it: if
only granted at all, that, under the influence of the molecular forces, no less than
under the influence of gravitation, continuous movements with changes in the order
of the particles can occur; whereas I find no fundamental obstacle.
III.
Principle of the tendency to stability 1) .
For the sake of brevity, in a regular period, successive equal periods of time,
recurrent positions and motions of the particles of a material system, or the centers of
gravity of whole masses (for which in short masses), which one can think of as united
to a larger system, I call stable relations, among which Rest state of the particles or
masses with respect to each other is included only as the limiting case where the same
conditions persist, a limiting case which we call absolute stability, while a dispersal
of the particles or masses into infinity in divergent directions constitutes the other
limiting case, that of absolute instability forms.
1)For certain very general preconditions, Zöllner already derived a principle by
means of ingenious considerations, which essentially enters into the above-
mentioned text and does not share its full universality, and therefore does not
open up the same vista, but enjoys a sharper version, justification, and even
mathematical formulation in which relationships I like to acknowledge his
priority as well as his advantage. For the most part, Zöllner has established and
applied his principle for explaining the periodicity of sunspots, but has also
pointed out the much wider scope of the latter for other relations. Comp. about
his treatises in the reports of the math.-phys. Cl. the Saxon Soc. d. Wiss. 1870
338, 1871 100 and a brief note about it in his work on the nature of comets
371.
No longer as absolute, but still as complete stability, we shall designate the case
where movements take place, but at exactly the same time intervals always at the
same ratios of the particles or masses, not only according to their position but also
speed, direction and change the speed and direction, relative to each other. However,
according to the greater or lesser approximation to absolute stability, degrees of full
stability will still be distinguishable. In fact, the slower the change in the position of
the particles or masses is, and the smaller the limits are, that one needs only to go to
the limit with either or both of them to have absolute stability.
For absolute and full stability, the third case is the case of greater or lesser
approximation to full stability, in short approximate stability. It could be the case that
the particles or masses of a system never return again exactly, but almost in the same
periods of the previous conditions relative to each other, of which we have an
example to the main mass of the solar system, to which I return below 2) .
2) It would be desirable, indeed important, to be able to specify a certain degree
for the degree of approximation of a state of motion to full stability; but for the
general considerations to which we shall confine ourselves, it suffices to
acknowledge only that greater or less approximations can take place in this
relation.
In any case, in order to simplify the consideration of stable motion conditions, it
may be remarked that while the periodicity ratios can be particularly envisaged and
tracked with respect to position, velocity, directional relationships of the particles of a
system, they may be isolated or under constant external conditions In the case of the
system in question, those relationships are so interrelated that, if the positions of the
particles or masses with respect to each other recur completely or approximately, the
same speed and directional relations will again or almost recur. In relation to the
velocity relations, this is a direct consequence of the principle of the conservation of
living force; as far as the directional relationships are concerned,
In view of these preconceptions, we conceive of any number of material particles
constrained by forces of any kind to movements within a limited space, and to deny
the system external influences or under constant external influences, moreover
undisturbed by interventions of spiritual freedom, or not at all possible ; Thus,
assuming any initial positions, velocities, directions of the particles of the system, all
subsequent states thereof will be determined by these initial conditions. Are there,
then, under these conditions, those which, if they are there in the first place or have
entered in the course of the movement, result in a return of the same states after a
given time, In this way, the movements, which at first are somehow altered in shape
and speed, and thus the particles, if they do not directly carry the condition of
periodic recurrence, will continue their changes until, under all possible conditions,
which can be traversed in such a way which include the condition of recurrence, the
system until then have no rest so to speak. But if the return has happened once after a
given time, it must always come again after the same time, because the same
conditions are there again. And since these conditions are decisive for the whole
course of the movement from one to the next recurrence, the whole course of the
movement must also be repeated, ie in every same phase of the period, a similar state
of motion is found. But with this, full stability of the system has arisen, according to
which a change, a departure from the stability already attained, can of course only
occur through changes in the external influences, under whose conditional stability
the stability came to pass.
This principle seems at first to be purely a priori; yet one must not overlook the
assumption made in this respect that under the conditions of the movement there are
in the first place those which lead back to their own recurrence, which is nothing less
than a matter of course, but it goes without saying that a system must continue to
change so long and can only continue to change until the conditions of full stability
are reached, if at all achievable, and that full stability once achieved can not be
reversed by the system's own action 3) . The question now is, how far account and
experience permit the establishment of a more general principle in this respect.
3) Perhaps one could try to save the full apriorism of the principle by saying
that among all conceivable modes of movement of the particles of a system
there are, of course, those which bring the particles back to former conditions,
and the motion of the particles is indefinite must change, as long as no such
movement has occurred, such must finally occur, since it has space under the
indeterminable possible movement, so must be taken sometime. But it is quite
possible to think of modes of movement as changing indefinitely, so that
certain forms of movement always remain excluded; and, therefore, he still
wonders whether the occurrence of such is compatible with the nature of the
forces on which the movement depends.
In a system of merely two particles or masses, which are determined by reciprocal
attraction and after-effect of an original distracting impulse to move with respect to
each other, the calculation, excluding infinite movements, teaches that the entry is
full of stability, and immediate entry a necessary one; In the case of oscillating
pendulums and strings, too, it can be calculated from the nature of the forces that
move them, that they would remain in a completely stable state of motion when
external resistances cease, while in the presence of such an absolutely stable one they
pass through an approximately stable one. The fortune of the bill does not go beyond
such relatively simple cases; not even the problem of the three bodies,
If, however, experience is added, it can be asserted, according to the most general
facts, that in a system left to itself or under constant external conditions at the outset
of arbitrary states, if not full stability, but a greater or lesser approximation of it as
final state from which there is no regression of stability through the internal effects of
the system itself; By withdrawing, as a rule, as changeable external influences, the
tendency to approximate states or the actual attainment of such is asserted
everywhere, so that the hypothesis, which has to supplement the impossibility of very
sharp statements in this respect, is left little enough to avoid To allow the following
law or principle:
In every system of material parts left to itself or under constant external conditions,
and thus also in the material world system, insofar as we consider it to be completed,
if there are no infinite movements, there is a continuous progression from instable to
stable states to a full or approximate one end states take place.
The motions of the mass particles of our planetary system may have been highly
irregular in their original state. Now they have, in the main, made up for the regularly
recurring planetary movements. However, by virtue of existing incommensurability
ratios of the orbital periods of the planets, they can never all return to the same
relative positions at the same time and, therefore, never return in exactly the same
disturbance conditions and thus in the orbit of each planet. But a periodic return of
the same positions of two, three, and even of all the planets to each other, and thus an
approximate return of the same disturbances of each individual path in smaller and
larger periods, in which one can dissect the whole movement, takes place,4) .
4) It may be remarked that while the incommensurability of the orbital periods
of the planets causes a deviation from the full stability of the planetary system
in our sense, it is at the same time the condition of the continued approximation
because, in the case of commensurability of the orbital periods, the recurrent
Circulations would sum up the disturbances in the same direction, rather than
compensating with small fluctuations.
If, however, our isolated system of planets should suddenly be brought into the
vicinity of another in which stability was attained in the same approximation, the
stability in both would diminish just as suddenly by their mutual disturbances; but
now that the interaction of the masses of both systems from both systems has become
one, a new advance in the sense of increasing stability would immediately take place
in this system up to a new limit state of approximate stability.
Not only the masses of the planets in relation to each other, but also the particles of
the mass of each in itself have passed from the beginning, indisputably very irregular,
movements to the main to stability, in which all planetary masses with their
periodically variable, hence the concept of Stability of corresponding inclination of
the axis rotate against its orbital plane; and if, under the changing influence of the sun
according to day and season, still very unstable meteorological conditions take place
on the earth, they would soon come to rest not only when these changing external
influences cease, and all parts of the surface of the earth become uniform Participate
in rotation of the earth; but it is also affected by the movements that we have on earth
as part of the system of earth,
The organisms are, so to speak, based entirely on the periodicity of their functions,
hereby based on stable relationships of their lives. However, in consideration of the
metabolism to which the organisms are subject, we see that they are not always the
same but only equivalent particles, which return periodically to the same
positions; But it does not hinder anything to generalize the concept of stability so that
this case comes under it.
From a general point of view, it can be believed, though hitherto not strictly
proved, that the propensity of each material system left to itself is related to a regular
internal grouping of particles and a regular external shape with the principle of the
tendency to stability.
Even the spiritual realm is subject to this principle. For it is found that, as a man
evades more from the variable influence of external circumstances, his whole
imaginative, sensory, and mental life is organized into ever more regular cycles, or in
short, becomes ever more stable; one day will soon be like another's for him; what
one can relate to the growing stability of the material processes which are subject to
spiritual life.
Insofar as every limited system in the world, as part of a larger system, can
eventually be grasped by the whole world, the internal stability relations of each are
determined by the external conditions in the sense of the tendency of the whole to
stability, and where the effect of external conditions is not negligible, the principle of
the tendency to stability can only be invoked with regard to such participation.
The two cases deserve particular attention, that a system, which in itself would be
in a stable state of its parts, carries out this movement in a means which would
relatively rest without the motion of the system, and that it underlies them the
influence of the stable state of motion of another system extends. An example of the
first case we have attached to a string attached to two fixed points, which vibrates in a
quiet air. Although we can not regard the particles of the so-called calm air, because
of their heat oscillations, as absolutely, but nevertheless in relation to the excursion of
the parts of the string as resting. Without the resistance of the air, the vibration of the
string would have been quite stable; under the influence of the resistance of the air
with which it forms a system,
As to the second case, it is that two systems in themselves would be in a state of
stable motion, not yet included, that the system of both is comprehended in such a
way, which would, above all, include the periods of both, which particles same one
may take, stand in commensurabeln relations to each other.
In general, according to the experience of success, which Huyghens's experiment
with the two clocks fixed on the same board has offered for pendulums of different
lengths, as well as the results of calculations concerning the communication of
oscillations to resonating bodies, we know that The tendency to produce stable
relations of motion between the systems in operation is asserted without, of course,
that the case has already been dealt with in full generality.
It can not be said hereafter that the stability relations that would prevail for each of
two systems will persist even if the two interact, but that when the approximately
stable final state of the system of both systems has been established, each of the two
systems will also be Viewed again, we have returned to an approximately stable state,
for, of course, in the approximate state of the whole, that of every part is itself
included; except that this state may be different than before, and the approximation to
full stability may be greater or less than before.
We can not compare the mechanical conditions, forces, laws according to which
movements that take place in the context of a system, gradually becoming more and
more like a return of the same conditions in larger or smaller periods, shortly after
which there is a tendency to stability Generality, not at all to pursue beyond obvious
limits; but it is important to know at all that there is a tendency in this sense,
dependent on the legal effect of the forces, which leads to a final state of more or less
approximated stability, which can not be reversed by internal forces; and just as in the
principle of conservation of strength we often find the means to supplement
inferences on the achievement of successes,
So it is already in the sense of such a combination, that no unlimited progress of the
world to the absolute stability, which is at rest of the particles, can take place; rather,
the approach to it is limited by the principle of the conservation of force. Indeed, by
the tendency to stability, the living force in the world as a whole can not be changed
as a whole, not in its greatness, but only in the form in which it manifests itself.
Now that the principle of the preservation of force has undergone such beautiful
developments and has borne so rich fruit, I hold it to be the importance which I
attribute to the principle of the tendency to stability as a qualitative supplement to
that principle relating to quantitative relations Even for an important task of the
future, this principle, as well as the principles of belonging to both principles, must
no less be worked on and exploited; only this would include more mathematical
knowledge and ability than I possess. Also, a more general treatment of it by the
necessary involvement of the metabolism in the application to organisms should be
only too difficult.
Be that as it may, if the more general treatment of the principle were still to be
subject to great difficulty, particular cases of interest in it should not be avoided.
Incidentally, the importance of the principle will appear to be all the brighter and
all the greater if the physical and physiological utilization of it, which is the subject
here and in the next section, is followed by the teleological and psychophysical
exploitation of the same, which occurs in the Ninth becomes.
IV.
Applications of the previous principle to the organic
conditions.
In all the disparities that the movement of particles in organic and inorganic
molecules can assume, there is a fundamentally greater approximation to absolute
stability for inorganic molecules, in that the order of the particles is firmly retained by
the internal forces, but in the organic ones Molecules is crazy by it, even if it recovers
periodically with full stability. In addition, the stability of the order implies, of itself,
more favorable conditions for the stability of the displacements than the variability of
the order. Of course, these advantages of stability, which precede inorganic organic
molecules, are only multiplied and increased to inorganic systems in relation to
organic systems.
Hereinafter, generally speaking, the tendency toward stability is more to transform
organic states into inorganic ones than vice versa. If one thinks of leaving an
organism to oneself, depriving the air of breathing, of drinking, of food, not only will
its entire organic association, but also the organic constitution of its molecules,
disappear in no time, and it will have a tendency to stable states go into an inorganic
state, which finally occurs safely even at its natural end of life; and in the same
tendency the deeper reason is to be sought, for which reason the inorganic state can
not give birth to any organisms. It would be a contradiction to the principle. But from
another side you can not see it as an inference of the principle, that the transition into
an inorganic state, which is the last of any organism, must occur immediately to
everyone; for if we were to conclude that this would happen, the principle would be
completely abandoned by a leap in that the organic movements, which so far had
been approximated, suddenly stopped repeating everywhere. The principle does not
demand at all a goal of a certain degree of approximation to the absolute stability of
the world process, which is not attainable at all according to Section 3, but only that
in the totality of this there is no regression as to the approach to full stability without
being determined for now what is probably the only asymptotically desired goal, and
without a step backwards in detail is excluded, which leads to a greater
approximation to the full stability of the whole. Now, after the experience itself, on
the way to the goal, there is both the periodically renewed emergence of new
organisms from the earlier ones with new growth through nutrition, and the no less
periodically renewed relapsing of them into an inorganic state. We must continue to
be in mastery of the principle as we are, and perhaps will ever be, to foresee this and
the like, as it is, as pure theoretical implications of the principle; but that does not
stop us from understanding this and the like in the sense of the principle, and to base
it on very general points of view. Now, after the experience itself, on the way to the
goal, there is both the periodically renewed emergence of new organisms from the
earlier ones with new growth through nutrition, and the no less periodically renewed
relapsing of them into an inorganic state. We must continue to be in mastery of the
principle as we are, and perhaps will ever be, to foresee this and the like, as it is, as
pure theoretical implications of the principle; but that does not stop us from
understanding this and the like in the sense of the principle, and to base it on very
general points of view. Now, after the experience itself, on the way to the goal, there
is both the periodically renewed emergence of new organisms from the earlier ones
with new growth through nutrition, and the no less periodically renewed relapsing of
them into an inorganic state. We must continue to be in mastery of the principle as we
are, and perhaps will ever be, to foresee this and the like, as it is, as pure theoretical
implications of the principle; but that does not stop us from understanding this and
the like in the sense of the principle, and to base it on very general points of view. We
must continue to be in mastery of the principle as we are, and perhaps will ever be, to
foresee this and the like, as it is, as pure theoretical implications of the principle; but
that does not stop us from understanding this and the like in the sense of the principle,
and to base it on very general points of view. We must continue to be in mastery of
the principle as we are, and perhaps will ever be, to foresee this and the like, as it is,
as pure theoretical implications of the principle; but that does not stop us from
understanding this and the like in the sense of the principle, and to base it on very
general points of view.
Here, above all, with regard to the distinction made in the first section between the
essential constitution of the organic and the inorganic, belongs the already repeatedly
touched upon elimination of the view of a generatio aequivoca of organisms, in place
of those in the fifth section on the basis of appropriate cosmogonic conceptions to be
developed view. In any case, as far as certain facts are concerned, organisms are
formed only by splitting already-given organisms or splitting them off, and it will be
shown that the first origin can also be derived from a primordial state of the earth;
inorganic state occurs. Now the organisms are maintained and enlarged by means of
nutrition, and in this case, for the first sight, a contradiction can be sought with the
principle that the inorganic substances, as far as they contribute to nutrition, give up
the advantage of their stability before the organic by entering into the organic
process. But, first of all, by being absorbed into the organism and participating in its
internal movements, the inorganic substances are in a more stable relationship to its
particles than they had outside the organism; secondly, for the ingested inorganic
substances, those which partly leave the organism and partly contribute to the growth
of the organism, are separated, provided that all bones, solid shells, horn masses,
skins are subject to a more or less inorganic structure; thirdly, the principle of
stability tends to that the life processes of the organism are arranged in certain
periods and cycles or take on a more or less definite rhythm. Sleep and waking,
circulation of the blood, peristaltic movements of the intestines, the rhythm of
breathing, the more or less periodic food intake and sexual activity belong here. It is
also probable that the division of the organic molecules or cells by means of which
growth takes place will, to some extent, promote stability, provided that the nuclei of
two organically linked organic molecules or cells, because of the fewer particles each
contains, easier to get into stable conditions as if, together with the parenchyma (to be
understood), they merge indistinctly into a single molecule or a single cell; and even
if the separation allows for instable relations of the separate masses with respect to
each other, then to some extent that advantage will outweigh this disadvantage all the
more easily as those stability relations which had occurred during the full unification
of the masses, at least partially may remain divergent under forest conservation
organic dressing.
Finally, it must be remembered that the abandonment of the inorganic state in the
organisms by the fact that it alternates periodically with their relapse into this state,
even from a very general point of view, comes under the concept of approximate
stability.
Once a limit of growth has arrived, the organism, generally speaking, remains for
some time fairly uniform in an approximately stable state at once in itself and in the
external world; but gradually the inorganic stability begins to seize more and more at
the expense of organic space, as the parts become firmer and more rigid, and the
movements slow down more, until at last the whole organism falls back into the
inorganic state, and thus organic life would be ended at all if he can not split off parts
of his life that repeat his life process.
Will now has a germ, which had come in connection with its parent body to an
approximate stabeln final state, separated from the nut body, the thus set change of
the external conditions by virtue of the change thereof with dependent internal
conditions 1) and the changes continue until a new final state, which is approximately
stable under the new external conditions, has occurred, which means either the
destruction of the germ by rapid transfer to the more stable inorganic state, or a
slower development of the germ via nutrition , The former, if the external conditions
sufficient for the maintenance of the organic state are not present for the germ, the
latter, if they exist. At every stage of its evolution, the germ may still fall into the
inorganic state as the final state, and special external conditions are everywhere, if it
is to proceed to an organic one for a time, without a variation of these conditions
being excluded within certain limits throughout the developmental period; only
certain limits can not be exceeded if the development is to lead instead to a stable
organic rather than an inorganic final state. Depending on the variation of the external
conditions within these limits during the developmental period of the germ, the same
then evolves into a different creature, even if it has the same inherent attachment. But
in the course of the development of the whole organic kingdom the possibility of the
emergence of various creatures becomes more and more limited by the tendency of
the same principle to stabilize conditions not only for the development of organisms
but also for the whole external world and the connection between the two the world is
true. After which not only the internal, but also external conditions of the
development of the organisms become more and more solidified, subdivided into
ever more definite periods and cycles, and consequently the development of the
germs of the same constitution is increasingly guided in the same paths, for the same
phases of their development while the germs themselves, in the advances of the
generations, prepare more and more for the repetition of the earlier stages of
development under these increasingly stable external conditions, and herewith repeat
the organisms from which they originated; in which the principle of decreasing
variability of organisms is linked in the course of the development of the organic
realm, of which a later section will deal.
1)This abandonment is not inconsistent with the principle of stability, which
denies a loss of stability only in the face of external circumstances, and means
no loss for the whole world, but only a temporary one for the germ in
particular.
V.
Cosmoganical relationships, the origin of organisms.
The modern doctrine of descent adheres to the view that the organic kingdom of the
earth originated from the inorganic realm in a prehistoric age, and it concedes to this
kingdom that it accidentally produces once more at least one moner or a simple cell,
or plots itself to do the same, by making the simplest organisms, if not of purely
inorganic matter-which one would hardly dare believe, though in the sense and for
the support of the doctrine-of such being made inorganic by cooking produce
addiction. But it seems to me to be about the same thing as if one thought that flesh
and nerves had developed out of the bones in a certain period of fetal life, and it
might still be under favorable conditions, and the same experiment as if one
were after the chicken crawled out of the egg; wanted to make the chicken again from
the eggshell; only that instead of the substances I think I have exhausted my strength.
I have already stated above that an origin of organisms, of purely inorganic matter,
appears as a contradiction with the principle of the tendency to stability. I do not want
to say that this contradiction has been fully proved; but the general contemplation that
could be made in this regard coincides with the negative results of the observations
and experiments hitherto made. To be sure, it provokes very peculiar circumstances
of the inorganic realm that have been passed, which have made possible the
emergence of organisms, which seems no longer possible, from them; but as long as
one does not leave the conditions of the inorganic state with these conditions, we
shall not be allowed to account for that origin either according to that principle or
according to empirical laws. For though the carbonic acid content of the air, the heat
of the earth, and whatever one might think of, may once have been much greater than
it is now, the diffusion and chemical processes between the inorganic masses may be
altered, we know enough about it the laws of all such changes and their successes, in
order to expect as a result again and again only inorganic masses.
Great emphasis is placed on the recent chemistry of pure inorganic matter to
produce urea, formic acid, etc., which are also produced by organisms; but has it put
any of these substances in the organic state of motion, which has been able to
produce the phenomena of nutrition, growth, and reproduction? and that is what it
is. Now one thinks that it would only be up to it, until To bring to the chemical
composition and the state of aggregation of the proteinaceous protoplasm of a simple
monster, then everything will find that by itself. And it is undisputed that if the
artificially produced protoplasm were identical in all molecular conditions to the
natural one, it would also show its signs of life; only the molecular conditions are the
state of motion itself upon which the phenomena of life are based; but the chemistry
of the laboratories has hitherto not betrayed the least object of conferring such an
inorganic matter, or of arranging its particles so that forces awaken in it themselves.
But while the inorganic realm shows itself incapable of producing organic in itself,
we see daily in and out of organisms inorganic substances in drippable or gaseous
state precipitate or form more or less firm frameworks in it, and I mean, though not
after but for more direct reasons, that, instead of the formation and excretion of
organisms in and out of the inorganic realm, we must conversely assume that the
inorganic masses originated and excreted from an originally organic state of the earth
in the sense of our explanation of the organic state; except that the molecular traction
in producing the organic motions was represented by the gravitational force of
gravity, which was beyond imperceptible distances, when the particles of the earth
were even beyond such distances. But if one wishes to limit the organic state merely
to dependence on molecular forces, one would have to say that organic and inorganic
are to be thought of as differentiated from a state of primeval matter, to which neither
the concept of our present organic nor inorganic states is perfectly applicable
is. Insofar as a distinction of the original state of the earth from the organic states now
to be observed on earth may be necessary, the first may be described as cosmorganic,
while the latter as molecular organic. But now we are wondering how we get to our
idea of the cosmic state. But if one wishes to limit the organic state merely to
dependence on molecular forces, one would have to say that organic and inorganic
idea of the cosmic state. But if one wishes to limit the organic state merely to
dependence on molecular forces, one would have to say that organic and inorganic
idea of the cosmic state. that the organic and the inorganic are to be thought of as
differentiated from a state of primeval matter, to which neither the concept of our
present organic nor inorganic states is perfectly applicable. Insofar as a distinction of
the original state of the earth from the organic states now to be observed on earth may
be necessary, the first may be described as cosmorganic, while the latter as molecular
organic. But now we are wondering how we get to our idea of the cosmic state. that
the organic and the inorganic are to be thought of as differentiated from a state of
primeval matter, to which neither the concept of our present organic nor inorganic
states is perfectly applicable. Insofar as a distinction of the original state of the earth
from the organic states now to be observed on earth may be necessary, the first may
be described as cosmorganic, while the latter as molecular organic. But now we are
wondering how we get to our idea of the cosmic state. Insofar as a distinction of the
original state of the earth from the organic states now to be observed on earth may be
necessary, the first may be described as cosmorganic, while the latter as molecular
organic. But now we are wondering how we get to our idea of the cosmic
state. Insofar as a distinction of the original state of the earth from the organic states
now to be observed on earth may be necessary, the first may be described as
cosmorganic, while the latter as molecular organic. But now we are wondering how
we get to our idea of the cosmic state.
Originally, according to now generally accepted assumption, the whole matter of
the earth, indeed of our whole planetary system, was in a tremendously extended state
and only gradually merged into the common center of gravity. If the particles had not
had impulses from the beginning that deviated from the direction of gravity, their
attraction would have resulted in rectilinear motions directly to the center of gravity,
and would have the elliptical motion of the planets about the center of gravity of the
system and its rotation can not come to their axis. The presence of these movements,
which deviate from the direction of the center of gravity, necessitates the assumption
of such impulses or initial speeds, which had a different direction, in which one wants
to search for their origin. Our view of how they are stripped of any mystical character
can also be found at the end of this section; but what matters here is the fact that is
necessary, not the explanation of it. If we restrict ourselves first to consideration of
the earth mass, then from the outset there is no reason to regard all the particles as
equidistant from one another and the impulses to them all as equal and equally strong,
even if our view of the nature of these impulses is correct In the first place,
differences in the first respect of their own accord lead to differences in the latter
respects. Nor is there any reason to think of all the impulses expressed on the various
particles as compensating in the whole in terms of direction and size. In fact, in
infinitely many conceivable cases, this would only be two. Every case in between,
after all, must have led, according to mechanical principles, to the rotation of the
mass of earth, solidified by its molecular attractions, about its axis and translatory
motion in space, in the direction which as a whole predominated 1) , whereas before
the formation of the solid state, the individual particles had a movement in most
different directions between each other, through and around each other only with
preservation of the position of the common center of gravity, and as a whole with
predominance of a certain direction, whereby they not merely the place, but also the
order spontaneously and continuously changed what we have recognized as the
distinguishing character of the organic state from the inorganic, and according to
which the whole earth from the beginning occurs under the point of view of a single
organism without the interference of inorganic states.
1) Infact, according to well-known mechanical principles, when an impulse
which is already fixed and floating in the free tree is given an impulse whose
direction does not pass through the center of gravity, it assumes a movement
which consists of a rotation of the body about one axis passing through the
center of gravity and a movement of the center of gravity in the direction of the
momentum. This momentum is represented in the Earth mass at the moment of
becoming solid by a resultant of the momenta which are especially pronounced
on all individual particles. That the cycles and rotations of all planets go in the
same sense can not of course be explained by this principle the establishment
had to have already been done by a mutual dependence of the particles at that
time, when the whole mass of the planetary system, still unseparated, formed a
tremendous ball in which, because of the removal of the particles from each
other, no solidification by molecular attraction took place. But undoubtedly, in
a system of particles which are subject only to gravitation, the principle of the
tendency to stability justifies a tendency to move in the same sense, and this is
only finally completed and fixed by the later solidification of the individual
cosmic bodies by molecular attractions.
It is possible to explain these conditions to a certain extent and at the same time to
assure the validity of the preceding considerations by looking back from the earth as
a mere part of the planetary system to the whole planetary system, by playing what
we call the particles of the earth mass below the planet Influences of gravitation and
original impulses before being solidified by molecular attractances, still today take
place between the masses of the planetary system not bound together by such
attractions, insofar as all the planets in relation to each other around the center of
gravity of the whole system are truly free in cosmic terms different width, shape
(eccentricity) and orbital time, of which we have already earlier occasion to explain
the organic state ever took,with the remark to be repeated here, that while the mass
overweight of the sun reduces all planetary motions to little disturbed ellipses, such a
restriction for the particles of the earth takes place just as little as for the particles of
an organic molecule, so that the particles of the Earth from the outset can settle much
more complicated movements with respect to the center of gravity and with respect to
one another than can be found between the masses of the planetary system.so that the
particles of the earth from the outset can settle much more intricate movements with
respect to the center of gravity and with respect to each other than can be found
between the masses of the planetary system.so that the particles of the earth from the
outset can settle much more intricate movements with respect to the center of gravity
and with respect to each other than can be found between the masses of the planetary
system.
To this is added the reminder that apart from the difference of the other movement
conditions also a different inclination of the orbital planes against the ecliptic and a
different inclination of the axes of rotation for the different planets, which directly
proves that the original impulses for the different masses of the planetary system
were not rectified. But if they were not rectified for the various masses of the system,
why should they have been rectified for the various particles of the masses, including
the earth? If, on the other hand, one were to make just such firm connections between
the entire masses of the planetary system, and then finally come into existence
between the particles of the earth, one would think all connected by a system of solid
beams,
According to this, one should have all the desired theoretical and factual documents
for the existence of the original cosm-organic movements in the earth mass.
If we proceed from the state of the earth, where these motions were still free and
determined by no force other than gravitation and inertia, this state changed in
proportion as the mass of the earth contracted more, hence the molecular forces to
become effective, and according to known conclusions of the law of conservation of
force, the large cosmo-organic movements were transformed into smaller molecular
ones, which is considered the common source of heat oscillations in the inorganic
molecules and the molecular-organic in the organic ones. Now the latter motions are
no less than the former in the heat phenomena; However, molecular-organic states
can neither arise nor persist after experience at too high a temperature, and this seems
to be an important difficulty for the first sight. In fact, if one imagines, as is generally
done, that the whole mass of the earth was at some point in a glowing state, not only
could no molecular-organic states be formed, but they must, if they had previously
been formed should be destroyed again, without being able to be born out of a totally
inorganic earth according to our own principles. But in my opinion, this difficulty is
not only made more unnecessary but also unjustified In this way, not only could no
molecular - organic states be formed, but, if they had previously come to existence,
they had to be destroyed again, without being able to be born out of a totally
inorganic soil according to our own principles. But in my opinion, this difficulty is
not only made more unnecessary but also unjustified In this way, not only could no
molecular - organic states be formed, but, if they had previously come to existence,
they had to be destroyed again, without being able to be born out of a totally
inorganic soil according to our own principles. But in my opinion, this difficulty is
not only made more unnecessary but also unjustified2) .
2) As it is a sensible heat for the thermometer and sensation, which is not
tolerated by the molecular-organic state without destruction, so below it is also
essential to such heat. But one can think of a large tree in which only a few
particles vibrate with the utmost rapidity; then one would have to add a very
strong heat to these particles, while the tree in question itself, on the whole,
was regarded as cold, and that heat was hardly felt by a thermometer or
organism placed in the room. So it really is important to make a difference
here.
First and foremost, it seems to me that there is a contradiction in that one is
accustomed to thinking that the earth has been transformed into its extended original
state by heat, and that from the other side the heat has been created by condensing the
mass. There is reason for the latter, for the former I do not know how to find, so
abstract it from it first. Now it was indisputably the center of gravity of the mass
around which the condensation first attained the degree sufficient for the
transformation of the cosm-organic movements into smaller molecular degrees, and
the whole process of transformation progressed from there to the circumference, with
which, in connection with it, the temperature was from the beginning Center of
gravity had to be greatest and had to decrease from there to the extent. Was already
the core of the earth through its compression in glowing river, Cosmo-organic states
could persist for so long until the temperature of the nucleus had diminished by
radiation to such an extent that the formation of molecular-organic states above it
could occur without destruction by its heat, while the lower density and stronger
radiation according to extent from another side allowed the formation of such
conditions. In other words, the formation of molecular-organic states seems possible
from the time and space point, where the surplus of warming, which had to be formed
by the compression of cosmic masses into molecular organic ones, was not greater
over the radiation than with the Stock of such masses. that the formation of molecular
- organic states above it could occur without being destroyed by its heat, while the
lower densification and stronger radiation by the extent to which otherwise permitted
the formation of such states. In other words, the formation of molecular-organic states
seems possible from the time and space point, where the surplus of warming, which
had to be formed by the compression of cosmic masses into molecular organic ones,
was not greater over the radiation than with the Stock of such masses. that the
formation of molecular - organic states above it could occur without being destroyed
by its heat, while the lower densification and stronger radiation by the extent to which
otherwise permitted the formation of such states. In other words, the formation of
molecular-organic states seems possible from the time and space point, where the
surplus of warming, which had to be formed by the compression of cosmic masses
into molecular organic ones, was not greater over the radiation than with the Stock of
such masses.
In the simplest way one could think of the whole process in such a way that the
transformation of the cosm-organic movements into molecular ones went everywhere
through the molecular organic state. Even around the center of gravity, compaction
and thus heating could be small enough from the outset to allow the formation and
existence of molecular - organic states, while the cosmic state still persisted. With
increasing compression, however, the molecular - organic mass first formed around
the center of gravity burned, and its formation from cosmic mass continued to
progress on the scale. But as the compaction and thus heating in the same direction
progressed and the newly formed molecular - organic mass always destroyed anew,
Meanwhile, would require the latter mode of representation that in fact all matter
on earth was not only capable of molecularly - enter into organic states, but also
forced to pass through the same to the inorganic state what one can doubt both 3), It is
very possible that inorganic molecular states have evolved, if not earlier, at the same
time as organic from the cosmo-organic. However, we do not have enough
knowledge to decide it and it must be enough to have shown that there are ways of
imagining which make the formation and definitive existence of molecular - organic
conditions on the surface of the earth possible and compatible with general
principles. Also, in this respect, we can still think of modifications of the previous
ways of thinking.
3)That many substances, such as gold, platinum, iridium, etc., are no longer
found in organisms, would not necessarily preclude their taking from the
cosmo-organic system their passage through molecular organic states into the
inorganic state, since the return from this into those through assimilation by
existing organisms may be more difficult than that passage.
For in the foregoing is presupposed; that a state of glucose of matter can only occur
after the transition of the cosm-organic movements into molecular-inorganic
ones; and as long as the particles move cosmomorphically under the influence of
gravitation, without molecular forces becoming noticeable between them, the state of
the system is cold and dark. But I find no binding need for this condition. Should be
to put in its very cosmorganic state insofar as glowing now the system of the earth, as
it propagated light and heat through the ether 4)Thus, with some alteration of the
previous course of contemplation, one would come essentially to the same
conclusion. The heat had to increase with progressive contraction and compression of
the mass, while more and more cosmo-organic mass turned into molten-inorganic,
glowing, liquid and gaseous, but the rest of the cosmo-organic mass, from the time
and point of view, began with molecular-inorganic mass, also molecular. Where the
conflict of cooling by radiation at the periphery of the system with heating by
progressive compression permits it.
In short, the molecular - organic states will, after excreting the main inorganic
mass, become too high at a temperature that is too high for the state of molecular
organic matter, to emerge from the last remnant of the cosmorganic mass, which has
finally cooled sufficiently 5) . It must be borne in mind that the inability of molecular
mass to exist in a glowing state is by no means at the same time an impossibility to
form out of glowing cosmic mass by its cooling.
4)The assumption that is possible here, that the earth radiates light and heat
from the outset in its extended cosmo-organic state, is not to be confused with
the above-supposed assumption that it was put into this state by heat.
5) If one wonders in what state the far-off light-fog in the sky, which one
considers to be world-systems in formation, may be, then one can assume that
cosm-organically moved particles propagate light and heat through the ether of
heavenly space can, think that the light mists consist only of such particles; but
in the case of merely attributing this power to molecular-inorganic particles, it
is also a mixture of cosm-organic particles with particles which have excreted
in a glowing state and thereby make the nebulae shining in it.
The essential difference between the two modes of perception, the present and the
present, is this: according to the previous, the cosmic state is from the outset dark and
cold, and the formation and continuation of the molecular - organic states at the
periphery of the earth becomes possible because here Compaction and heat in the
transformation of the cosmic state into molecular states does not thrive until the
molecular - organic state is destroyed. According to the present, the cosmic state is
from the beginning light and hot; but cosmic matter cools at the circumference of the
earth before being converted into a molecular state so far that a molecular - organic
existence becomes possible.
Either way, or in yet another modified way, who knows? but it is not necessary to
know, as long as it is only possible ways of eliminating the specified
difficulty. Incidentally, it could probably have been thought earlier that the extent of
the earthly system in contact with and proximity to its matter with the cold planetary
space could not have the same conditions of heating as for the core of the earth; but
only for the circumference of the earth does it require the assumption of a sufficiently
low temperature to be able to find the origin and existence of the organic kingdom on
earth, and it does not matter that we have to imagine the primitive state of it quite
differently the one that emerged out of the progress of the times.
Naturally, the uncertainty concerning the way in which the first formation of
molecular - organic states is imagined extends, even in the manner in which the first
advances in development appear, an uncertainty which increases the more one goes
into the particular tries. However, with the cosm-organic origin of the molecular-
organic states, many conclusions are essentially connected with one another in order
not to be expressed with a certain degree of certainty or probability, but thus lead to
modes of thought which differ greatly from those which now prevail over the same
conditions , of course, because their starting point is a very different one.
Additive.
In general, one considers the original impulses that have been dealt with here as
enigmatic to say extraterrestrial causes of primal motion, which have nothing to do
with the forces peculiar to matter, but are originally added to it, in order, by
distraction from their direction, to bring together all matter in a straight direction
towards the common center of gravity, and thereby the solidification of the world
prevent. Indeed, even in the necessity of accepting such original impulses, we have
sought a proof that a hyperphysical principle must be established for the physical
forces which move the world. In my opinion, however, things can be handled very
differently, and I should be very surprised if they were not so ready somewhere. That
without original, alien, the nature of material forces, If all the matter of a gravitational
system has to move in a straight line to the center of gravity of the system, then, as
far as I can see it, it can only be considered valid for very particular presuppositions,
which one usually seems to have implicitly in mind namely, 1) that the system
consists merely of two points, or masses of imaginary masses, or, more generally, all
points lie within one and the same straight line; 2) that the whole matter of the system
is contained from the beginning with uniform density in a spherical space. Also, there
may be cases of symmetrical disposition of the particles containing the condition of
rectilinear motion of them along the common center of gravity. In all other cases,
however, one may assume that the direction of the particles to the common center of
gravity by their mutual attraction learns side distractions, through which can be
represented the so-called original impulses. Only that the law of the preservation of
the center of gravity and the surfaces must always be maintained. To give at least a
few examples in which the deviation from the direction of the particles by the center
of gravity becomes evident under the mere influence of gravitation, consider two very
heavy particles, or two masses, which are concentrated in their center of gravity, thus
the common focus of both will be on the line of communication of the same, and both
masses, taken separately, will pursue this emphasis in a straight line. Now let a third
particle be very close to one of the two main masses. while these are very far from
each other, and the mass of the particle is vanishingly small compared with that of the
main masses. Then the common center of gravity of the whole system will still be
noticeably on the connecting line of the two principal masses. The small particles
near one of the two principal masses, presented laterally, will become so attractive at
so great a distance from the other principal mass against which the near disappears,
evidently not according to the common center of gravity of both, which is at the same
time that of the system, but move towards the nearer main mass, as if it had received
a distracting impulse from the direction to the common center of gravity. Yes, the
particle would be on the line connecting both masses between them,
Or think of a very elongated triangle of very small base and an attractive mass at
each corner of the triangle. Even if all three masses are equal to each other and the
triangle is isosceles, that is, bilaterally symmetrical, the two very close masses at the
endpoints of the small triangle basis will be in the direction towards each other rather
than the common center of gravity of the system the middle of the base has to be
pulled perpendicular to move.
Or, to commemorate an example, let a uniformly filled spherical shell of constant
thickness be given. The center of gravity of the mass will be in the middle of the
cavity. Also, place a particle somewhere within this cavity whose mass is vanishingly
small relative to the total mass, so that the center of gravity of the whole system does
not noticeably go crazy from the center of the sphere. According to a well-known
proposition, for ponds, where it is also within the cavity, the attractions on all sides
compensate each other in such a way that they are as good as if they had no attraction
at all and remain calm without any other impulse. Now imagine the mass of the
spherical shell compacted at any point or expiring in an extension,
If, instead of moving in a straight line towards the center of gravity of the planetary
system, our earth orbits it in an elliptical orbit, the necessary lateral deflecting
impulse may be due in part to the attraction of the other planets, and even of other
solar systems with which our system His more extensive relationship to his extended
original state was now thought to be represented.
From this I mean that the motion of every particle of the cosmo-organic system
under the influence of gravitation can be divided into two parts, one directed towards
the center of gravity of the system, and another directed laterally against it, and the
original one However, it does not represent a distracting impulse, which one tends to
suppose, but which does not appear as an eternal and hence eternally continuing
impulse, but changes with the order changing as a result of the motion of the
particles. It is also clear that if we initially present the particles of the cosmo-organic
system in a disorderly arrangement, as we do in fact, we do not need a special
condition,
Although I consider this conception of the so-called original impulses to be more
valid than those brought forward, I did not consider it necessary to enter into the main
text, since it does not lead to any other consequences than the traditional one, to refer
to had the advantage of avoiding a complication of consideration.
VI.
Principle of relative differentiation.
In general, the origin of new and diverse creatures by descent from earlier creatures
is explained by the fact that the parent creatures progressed according to the
development of the earthly kingdom, and the conditions of the latter were redesigned
and simplified, and if so also modified influences, not only hereafter even their
organization changed many times, but also varied in many ways, thus developing into
new organisms, germs, but of which, according to the principle of the struggle for
existence, the most favorably organized and most adapted to external conditions,
others repressed, kept the field, and their peculiarities inherited on the offspring. The
influences that change the organisms, They are based on the effects of the general
forces of nature, which play their part purposelessly without a prescriptive principle
to which they are directed, and afterwards with the character of accidental action,
which obtains the character of expediency only because the non-sustainable
consequences of this play against the capable one pull shorter and leave this space. In
short, the three principles of the variability of organisms through indeterminable
natural forces acting in their own right, the struggle of the changed organisms for
existence with the victory of the most advantageously modified and more and more
fixed inheritance of their properties, are regarded as the sufficient levers of the
development of the organic kingdom from simple beginnings to today's
manifoldness;
Even today these principles are still effective in the shaping and preservation of the
conditions of the organic world, and, contrary to the general view that they will be
used for the development of the organic world to the present day, nothing substantial
will be objected to not having to take refuge for mystical reasons; but from the same
point of view, it seems to me not only to draw another to the previous principles, but
also to subordinate the principle of the struggle for existence, the principle of a
dependence of the conditions of existence of the organic creatures on each other and
the appropriate complementarity, which points to a corresponding preponderance
indicates the conditions of origin. Now, of course, one seeks to present this principle
only as the secondary success of natural selection, according to the three other
principles given, as follows: those organisms will continue together, which have
changed so that they can best exist together; the others will enter; only the matching
ones are left over, without conditions for the matching being given from the
outset. And it must be conceded that no other view could be drawn from the view of
an inorganic origin of the organisms. only the matching ones are left over, without
conditions for the matching being given from the outset. And it must be conceded
that no other view could be drawn from the view of an inorganic origin of the
organisms. only the matching ones are left over, without conditions for the matching
being given from the outset. And it must be conceded that no other view could be
drawn from the view of an inorganic origin of the organisms.
Against this the view of the organism's cosm-organic origin leads just as naturally
to another conception, which opens the view to a uniform developmental plan of the
organisms, which according to the previous conception is piecemeal from countless
accidental details. Moreover, on closer consideration, the previous conception leaves
difficulties unhindered which may escape superficial consideration, but which in our
view are altogether eliminated.
It is said that egoism is the principle of the world, and so everyone struggles for his
life with the other; In fact, egoism is only the principle of the individual, over which a
principle binding the totality of all individuals, if one so wishes, takes over the higher
egoism of the system of the individual. So I say; but the previous doctrine of descent,
at least in its most decided representatives, denies the very existence of such a
principle. It will be seen that nothing can be done in this field with general phrases
for and against; So we prefer to see the factual situation directly in the eye.
In fact, in the circumstances of the modern world, the principle of the struggle for
existence, that is to say, for the conditions of existence, plays such a subordinate role
against the principle of a dependence of the conditions of existence of the organic
creatures on each other and complementarity with each other, that it depends on In
the first place, it must be questionable to attach to him the overriding role in the
development of the present conditions of existence. But before we try to substitute
another idea for it, we look at the circumstances of the present in this respect. Can the
principle of the struggle for existence be regarded as prevailing in the relationship
between animal and plant kingdom? Is not rather the animal kingdom with its
existence completely dependent on the plant kingdom? It is true that there is a
struggle between the two in that the plants are eaten by the animals, and where a tree
stands, and an animal can not stand at the same time; but instead of the animals, as
more highly developed organisms, displacing the plants to take their place, they only
restrict the propagation of their existence to such an extent that their continued
existence is as secure as possible; for if the animals were to destroy all plants, they
would destroy the conditions of their own persistence, and if there were no more
animals, the plants would exhale the carbon dioxide exhaling the animals. the
fertilizer they drop and the help they receive from insects at fertilization; absence.
Even in the animal kingdom, the herbivores are not displaced by the carnivores in
the struggle for existence, but only prevented from such an excessive spread that they
would mutilate their food, while the abundance serves the carnivores as food. People
are at war with each other, but only occasionally; whereas, on the whole, they are
constantly dependent on one another for their conservation, propagation and
development. It is true that the cultured nations are gradually supplanting the rude,
the larger predators are gradually eradicated by humans, cultivated seeds from a few
species of plants take the place of many weeds, and everywhere, in the struggle for
existence, more perfect or more perfectly adapted specimens of a species displace the
more imperfect or less well-adapted, and the struggle for existence retains great
importance in this respect; but this importance does not outweigh that of the
supplementary relation, which asserts itself from another side, and how, in examples
of the following kind, how could the latter be represented as the secondary success of
the first according to the principles of the present theory of cultivation.
Take the supplementary ratio of the two sexes. If I am not mistaken, the only way
open for the present breeding theory is to explain its origin. In the beginning there
were only sexless creatures or both sexes. By any chance - for in vain I search in the
present theory of cultivation for another principle of the action of the forces, than that
of the possible effects of this somewhere and at some point or other occur - the
organization of a given animal - individual changed so that it took on a masculine
character and could no longer reproduce by itself. By other such contingencies the
organization of another individual of the same species changed so that it assumed a
female character, therefore could no longer reproduce by itself. By chance, these
changes were such that by copulation of both individuals a reproduction was
possible; also, coincidentally, the formation of both sex individuals coincided in the
same place and time; and as these contingencies were repeated in a very similar
manner throughout the animal kingdom, and propagated their successes through
heredity, the diversity and separation of the sexes, now prevalent throughout the
upper stratum of the animal kingdom, has arisen. But the fact that individuals with
separate sexes kept the field in the struggle for existence is due to the advantages
afforded to them by the division of labor in the reproductive business and by other
relationships, which occurred with the separation of the sexes.
On the contrary, one should expect different kinds of acting circumstances, ie
different times and places, for the development of the two different gender
individuals. And what does one gain by claiming millions or billions of years in order
to find the chance coincidence of such circumstances here and there once in a while,
but that the most improbable view is not made impossible, even though it is rather, it
is about finding the most likely of the possible views; if one does not resemble rather
the landlord, who meant the loss, which he suffered by cheap sale at every single
measure of beer, by the quantity of the sold measures. In fact, one should believe that
the maintenance of the sexual separation in the organic realm according to such
principles, even if it were possible by chance for a fortuitous time, would become less
and less likely with the growth of the years. For if we also assert that both sex
individuals coincidentally formed themselves at the same time in the necessary
supplementary relationship, we can not see how far both, who had to come together
for reproduction, should be more favorably disposed to it than the sexless or both
sexes Individual, which hereby also united the conditions of reproduction.
Against this one asserts the advantages of the division of labor, which comes about
through the separation of the sexes, and. It is undisputed that there are such
advantages. If, however, the division of labor in any one business came to an end
only on one side, and had to wait for chance to add to it from the other side, the
advantages would be neglected and the business divided, instead of displacing the
undivided one to bequeath to the offspring; But I do not know how, according to the
previous theory of breeding, the realization of the division of labor of the
reproductive business could be conceived differently than in such a manner and with
such success. Nor does the division of labor in the affairs of external human life ever
come into being by chance but by internal conditions of development; and so it will
be indisputable with the affairs of the inner life.
The same difficulties of the previous breeding doctrine only appear in another form
in the following examples. Many plants rely on fertilization with the help of certain
insects, and these insects on the other hand rely on a satisfaction of their nutritional
needs in the act of this aid.
If such a relation is to be thought to have come about according to the present
theory of cultivation, the plant in question must, for unknown reasons, modify its
organization in such a way that it needs a particular insect for fertilization, and an
animal has such unknown causes, which in principle with no effect on the plant's
efficacy, had to modify its organization so that it would have to seek its food from the
plant in question, with the aid of fertilization. The plant and the animal are said to
have become overweight in the struggle for existence with their relatives, who had
not established themselves so favorably on each other. But if they did not change
their organization in relation to each other at the same time,
But what is here said about supplementary conditions in two special examples,
applies basically more or less to all supplementary conditions in the organic
realm. Everywhere one encounters a monstrous difficulty in making the
supplementary relationship by adapting the organisms to each other in the accidental
ways of an independent modification, taking into account the struggle for existence,
and will only be able to overcome this difficulty by rejecting it a local, temporal and
causal relationship of the conditions of origin of the complementary organisms
substituted.
In fact, I believe that from the very beginning the cosmo - organic empire was
immediately differentiated into a coherent, coherent, and compatible molecular -
organic and inorganic, in that the former unified existence of that empire was in the
joining together of both as complementary and as demanding Reich resolved upon
the principle to be discussed soon; that then the molecular - organic kingdom, with
the omission of a differentiation of incompetent remainder in the plant animals,
differentiated into a coherent and matching animal kingdom and plant kingdom, and
within both realms even more special differentiations, among them those of the two
sexes, the parasites and their carriers etc entered.
In this case I understand the case of the simple splitting of a mass into several
masses, which differ only in size and outward form, but not in the internal
constitution or structure, from the mass of origin and from each other, under
differentiation the case that a mass of In a given inner constitution, it is split directly
into masses of unequal constitution, which maintain a complementary relation to each
other, or splits the germs produced by it before their splitting, so that organisms
emerge from them in complementary conditions, which I briefly distinguish as mass
differentiation and germ differentiation.
Now, in the hitherto existing doctrine of differentiation, we speak in so far as the
same organism produces offspring which, by chance influences, turn out to be
different in this or that direction or develop differently in the course of succeeding
generations. But insofar as we are talking here of a differentiation whereby an
organism produces offspring which, instead of being accidentally different, differ in
essential complementary relations to one another, I call this kind of differentiation a
distinction, in distinction, from that which is called random differentiation whose fact
can not be regarded as superseded by the assumption of that, but only as a
supplement.
The principle of the struggle for existence is not invalidated by the principle of
relative differentiation, but according to the previous theory of cultivation, the former
principle appears as corrective of the boundless variability of organisms for the
purpose of evoking an expedient structure of the organic world, according to the
following discussion even for us as a corrective of the referential as well as accidental
differentiation to apply, only that it seems to be reduced to a more secondary and
subordinate role. Closer to see, that's the ratio.
In any case, the preconditions of the creatures which have emerged by
differentiation from a uniform origin are in a reciprocal arrangement of the two,
which need not be created, but merely supplemented, in order to maintain a rich life
and a development of the separated organisms. But this complement may be more
perfect and imperfect, and the struggle for existence will now play its important role
in over-weighting the most complementary constituents, all the more important,
rather than just the supplements that derive directly from differentiation each other,
In the meantime we see that the struggle for existence is much less affordable than
the theory of breeding; as long as he does not first have to create the main conditions
for the purpose of functional consolidation, but only to supplement them.
I consider that the relative differentiations which have successively occurred in the
earthly system are as well situated in the uranium situation of the cosmo-organic
system, as the division of a cell is still attached to it today, except that it requires the
external conditions of nutrition, of which the cosmo-organic System did not need. I
presuppose without, however, being able to directly prove that the successive
differentiations are in the sense of an advance toward stability, and that from the most
general point of view they must seek their explanation therein. In fact, it can be
thought that a given organization can, to some extent, vary by internal forces under
given external conditions in such a way that progress towards stability takes place
without differentiation.
It may not be objected to the previous principle that we no longer see the organic
kingdom progressing in the same way, since we no longer see the organic realm, apart
from the successes of artificial breeding not considered here, develop at all , But it
had to have evolved from its inception until today. Although the principle of relative
differentiation in the previous arrangement may be regarded as merely hypothetical,
it seems to me to be a necessary addition to the other principle, which explains the
theory of descent no less by hypothesis than the development of the organic realm to
this day seeks, without going on this development today still going on.
In addition, our principle, in application to the development of the organic kingdom
into a manifold of organisms, gains support by the fact that every single organism is
still divided into a manifold of organs according to the same principle, but with the
difference that there is no complete separation of the differentiated parts and therefore
the success of differentiation requires no correction by a corresponding struggle of
the divided parts for existence, as it is necessary for the development of the organic
kingdom; whereas, in a more limited sense, such a correction is not altogether
lacking, inasmuch as many of the organs or parts of organs already developed
develop at the expense of the other, and indeed displace them altogether.
If, for the sake of clarity, I have distinguished fission and differentiation, mass and
germ differentiation, then there is just as little a strict conceptual boundary between
mere division and differentiation as to draw between mass and germ differentiation,
through ever smaller differences between the divided masses or germs of each other,
the differentiation proceeds into the mere fission, and according to the proviso as a
mother body relative to itself splits off ever smaller different germs of itself, the mass
differentiation passes into the germ differentiation.
How and in what relation to each other the differentiations and divisions of the
creatures took place in the whole course of development of the organic kingdom, and
combined and detached masses and germinal differentiations, ideas have hitherto
been more a matter of the imagination than of a sure conclusion. But at any rate we
are bound to suppose that the difference of the limbs resulting from the
differentiations has diminished more and more in the course of the evolution of the
organic kingdom, so that it no longer reaches the point of producing new species
from the parent creatures and from essentially different species. In particular, one
must also put how did the differentiations of a given stage take place more in
temporally and spatially connected processes through the whole organic realm or in
partially separated ones here and there; except that from a general point of view one
can believe that the closer the origin of the organic kingdom is the more the first, the
nearer the present time, the more the latter has been the case.
In no case do I believe that for the course of differentiation through the whole
expansion and succession of the organic kingdom a very simple scheme can ever be
established; because the cosmo-organic relations, from which this process started,
were undoubtedly involved, and the various states were too irregularly
distributed. But that they were from the beginning can be deduced from their still
existing consequences; indeed, one has to accept the irregularity of beginnings much
greater, more in the elementary than now, because the tendency for stability, which
from the beginning has dominated the whole course of development, has gradually
brought an order and structure into these conditions and conditions which did not
exist before can
As far as the climatological differences are concerned, they can only have become
noticeable when the internal geothermal heat no longer had the major part in the
warming of the surface on which the organisms live, and the dense mist cover, which
formerly lay over land and sea which gave way to the serenity of the heavens, and
indisputable changes also took place in the organic world. But of this we could have
expected only regularly ordered and regularly diverging changes, if there had not
been any primordial causes of the irregularity.
VII.
Principle of decreasing variability.
On the whole, as regards both the development of the whole earth and the organic
creatures on it, the view prevails in particular that the same forces which are still
active in this respect have always been active, and vice versa. But apart from
that; that, once the cosm-organic movements have exhausted their activity in the
formation of organic and inorganic molecules, they can no longer count on them for
the new formation of the same, then molecular and organic forces are by no means to
have the same efficacy as formerly to produce new organic formations. after they
have already led, according to the principle of the tendency to stability, to
approximate states in this respect. However, these states can only be considered final
states insofar as as at the same time those of the external world are with respect to
which the approximate stability of the organic states consists; but whether the goal
has been attained in this respect, there has been a considerable rapprochement since
the original conditions of the earth, and we can make changes of a magnitude and
kind formerly easy and possible in the organic and inorganic world. where the goal
was even farther, now not so easy and possible to find.
Thus, in the organic world as well as in the inorganic sphere, all relations were
unstable, mobile at all, and instead of the same organic forms always being repeated
from generation to generation, they first liked each other from one generation to
another, then from one epoch on the other, always in connection with the first strong,
then gradual, changes of the inorganic outer world, until, with their fixed structure
and development of fixed meteorological cycles, the structure and repetition of the
members of the organic creatures gained a firmer form.
It is true that one can object to the hereby established principle of a progressive
decrease in the variability of organisms over time, but this does not by any means
strike us. The sedimentary layers, which are distinguished according to the character
of the organic residues contained therein, are in general the thicker the older they are,
and if the time which served for their deposition is proportional to their thickness,
then the same character of the organization would become The longer you go back in
time, the longer you have got through it. But that assumption has nothing of its
own. Rather, it was undisputed that the weathering, ab- and aufschwemmenden
influences all the more powerful and gave the earth's crust with even greater heat
these influences all the easier,
Also, a greater variability of organic formations in the past than now seems to me
an almost essential ingredient of the concept of descent; as you go. In this view, the
course of development of the individual organic creature is regarded as the brief
picture of the course of development of the whole organic world or as a return of the
individual to this course of development. The embryo, too, shows comparatively
faster and greater changes the nearer it is to its origin. And one can not simply deny
it, because the possibility of calculation is lacking, that the tremendous changes
which the organisms have made in the course of the development of the whole
empire, would not have been possible even without the inclusion of a greater
variability that has taken place over a period of billions of years, and only now seem
no longer possible because it would take billions of years to complete; at least one
will be able to see it as an advantage to arrive at the same result with less time and
easier ways of thinking.
If one speaks of an immutability of the forces of nature and therefore shies away
from claiming other forces for the events of the present time than for those of the
past, then one is right; but what would one say, if someone wanted to assume, based
on the principle of immutability of the forces, that a stone, which at the end of its fall
time ran through 100 feet per second, had gone through so much in the very first
second. Rather, it is in the law of the case itself that he went through less at the
beginning. And so, in any case, one should keep in mind the possibility that, in the
law of organic evolution, there may be a gradual slowing down of this development,
and, since one can not decide upon the observation of the whole organic kingdom,
Depending on the above, there is a hypothesis of very general importance, which,
indeed, without the assumption that the organization in earlier times was more
variable than now, would have no support, and which may suffice to explain by a
specific example.
The rooster has spurs on its feet, a feather mane, a high red crest. The two first
institutions are explained according to the principle of the struggle for existence, by
the fact that taps, on which such things were accidentally formed, were superior to
their opponents in battle by the spores, and better protected by the mane against their
bites; so kept the place in the field of battle. But it would undoubtedly have been
necessary to wait a long time for the occurrence of such accidents, and if one
considers that similar contingencies must be assumed in all other animals in order to
explain the formation of their utilitarian institutions, then the idea will become
dizzy. On the contrary, I think, when the organization was even more easily
changeable, the psychic endeavor of fighting hard for the enemy, to protect oneself
against his attacks, and the wrath against him, which still today set the spurs in
action, the feathered men resist and make the crest swell, these parts by moderate
modification, if not to excite the education processes at the finished taps, but the plant
to implant the germs and herewith the descendants, whereby, of course, I regard the
psychic aspirations and states only as the internal phenomena of the physical organic
on which those transformations depended, but the whole play of the psychic impulses
with their physical support, but through the general principle of tendency stating
states, without attempting a more specific explanation. Now, of course, the strongest
ingestion of a cock would not produce a new spur and comb, because they have
already come forth, and the whole organization has reached an approximate status in
itself and in relation to the outside world; although it is probably still an amplification
of the spore and comb in the course of the generation of bad cocks still possible.
IX.
Descent of man.
What must necessarily be accepted as a consequence of the concept of descent, is
that man, instead of being created in advance and at once in the present or in an even
more perfect state, is higher and always from simple beginnings through a long series
of generations higher stages of development, zoologically indistinguishable from
animal ones, until he attained to human dignity, and even at this stage progressed
only gradually from very low to higher education. In the meantime it has already
been pointed out: If nothing offensive is found in it-and what does it help, if it were
to be found in it-that man in the womb of the state of a simple cell is essentially the
same as that under him? going through standing animals, in order to emerge as a
human being only at the last minute, but even beginning from the most sensible
child's condition to the higher education of the adult, why should it be offensive if the
development of the human race as a whole is taken quite the same course, and the
same plan here? only in a long time has been carried out on a large scale, which we
still see performed by each individual on a small scale and in a short time. Of course,
no one would like to descend from a monkey or monkey-like creature, as the latter
demands today's doctrine of descent; but even that will not be taken away from her,
that the stages of development which man had to go through, before reaching the
present stage, he brought him closer to the monkey from the point of view of
zoological characters as well as to any other creature, as is the case even today after
the attainment; because that can not be removed; But again one does not see why one
should be frightened of the similarities that have existed before, if one must try to
reconcile oneself with the existing one, which is only the continuation of that
one; and I think that one can accept oneself in the same way. which is only the
continuation of the one who knows how to accept, in any case must seek to
accept; and I think that one can accept oneself in the same way. which is only the
continuation of the one who knows how to accept, in any case must seek to
accept; and I think that one can accept oneself in the same way.
It is necessary, by all the stages which man has passed through in the course of
development of the entire organic kingdom, to have tacitly passed through his
capacity for development to the present spiritual height, as it passes through the
stages of development of the human embryo even today, while the forefathers of the
apes have a higher capacity for development in fact just as gone off, as they are still
embryos today.
After this, however, despite the external resemblance to the monkeys we still have
to put up with today, at no time would we have any equality with the apes. It is
possible that the ancestors of humans and apes diverged into separate tribes only
through a later, as the very first, differentiation of the parent stock of all organisms,
just as mentally gifted and idiotic children can date from the same parents; but then
one does not have to regard the idiotic or equally valid children as parents of the
spiritually gifted, as one does when one looks at monkeys or creatures comparable to
monkeys as the ancestral parents of men.
It is asserted for the tribal affinity of man with the apes that there are people today
who have scoffed at all attempts to raise them to a higher cultural level, and thus
represent themselves as transitional stages to monkeys, as by their physical
structure. But if the cheapest combination of education can not raise these peoples
today, how can one trust nature that it has ever been able to do so, so that the more
highly gifted races are descended from such races or the still poor monkeys? On the
contrary, the races, which are incompetent of a higher development, are as good as
the monkeys, be it from the first races, or from a later differentiation, from the higher
races.
Thus one may even assume that throughout the entire development of the organic
kingdom there have been creatures which, without having already attained the present
development of man, nevertheless included in their physical-psychic organization the
capacity to evolve without while passing through the stage of the monkey, which is at
all incapable of higher development, or of a creature equally worthy of the
monkey. Rather, the monkeys will have to be regarded as by-products of man split off
by means of the differentiation of the organic kingdom, and the lower human races as
such in relation to the higher races.
X.
Some geological hypotheses and paleontological fantasies.
(l) It is generally believed that the solid earth crust has been formed by progressive
solidification of the glowing liquid core, increasing in thickness from outside to
outside, and distinguishes mountain masses as original products of this solidification
and Neptunic or sedimentary masses as such These masses have resulted from
weathering, shattering, flooding and flooding. Now I confess that I have not enough
geological knowledge to judge whether the following modification of this view,
which seems to me to offer many advantages, presents considerable difficulties to
which it must then yield.
It is not disputed that the formation of the glowing liquid nucleus of the earth
occurred only very gradually by precipitation and condensation from the cosm-
organic primordial mass; by starting with the greatest compression around the center
of gravity. The more the core grew, the more the densification and glow of the newly
added layers diminished; so he could only enlarge himself until the radiation was
balanced with the heat needed to melt it; and as the radiance of the whole system
subsided, as the heat of compression deepened more and more, the solidification
began. But the time of the beginning of solidification could have occurred much
earlier, when all the matter capable of condensing into solid mass from the regions of
the system remote from the center had been reduced to the core; and so I mean that
while the thickness of the solid crust grew from outside to inside, not only drippable
water but also, and probably even earlier than that, solid substances, but not in molten
but loose aggregates, would be on the outside of the earth's crust and, because of their
looseness, not only made easy play for the waters of the waters, to wash them off and
wash them up again and again, but also to give the plants a soil prepared for
rooting; this is the Neptune or sedimentary layers. probably even earlier than this,
solid substances, but not in molten but loose aggregates, deposited themselves
outward on the crust of the earth, and because of their looseness not only made easy
play for the waters, to wash them off here and there, and to wash them up again, but
rather also gave the plants a soil prepared for rooting; this is the Neptune or
sedimentary layers. probably even earlier than this, solid substances, but not in
molten but loose aggregates, deposited themselves outward on the crust of the earth,
and because of their looseness not only made easy play for the waters, to wash them
off here and there, and to wash them up again, but rather also gave the plants a soil
prepared for rooting; this is the Neptune or sedimentary layers.
A certain relief to comfort oneself to the previous view may perhaps be found in the
fact that even today solid cosmic masses rain down from the heavenly chambers,
admittedly in comparatively rare fragments, the shooting stars and fireballs, to the
earth, and the solid mass of them continuously increased. In a lecture on the current
state of the shooting stars and comets (Europe 1873. No. 9) I read: "It has been
calculated that of such meteors (shooting stars and fireballs), which are visible to the
unaided eye in a bright night without moonlight not less than seven and a half million
enter our circle of air each year, and that with the addition of those which become
perceptible through the telescope, the sum rises to 400 million .... The hundreds of
millions,
Now, however, the meteors of this kind are intrinsically alien masses to the earthly
system, which this system encounters only in its course through space, and which,
because of the rapidity of the movement, become enmeshed and partly evaporate
through the air, whereas it is one slow depression of solid matter inherent in our
system; so there is no pure comparability in these relationships; however, it may be
thought that if the earth still finds so many solid matter on its orbit today, matter may
have been present in its extent even through long periods of its formation, and may
have gradually been knocked down.
2) Hergebrachterweise imagine one before; that when the surface of the solid earth
crust had become cold enough to tolerate dripping water, and as a result of which
water poured down upon it, the whole earth surrounding itself in connection with a
sea, from which later land through here and there arising partial upliftings. In the
meantime, I see no reason why such partial elevations of the solid earth crust should
not have already taken place, while it was still too hot to tolerate dripping water, for it
is undoubtedly irregular here and there, lifting the crust, and probably breaking it and
the more easily one may go back to prehistoric times, and the lighter the firm earth
crust was, the easier the elevation and the break must be; After this, however, heights
could protrude from the precipitating sea from the outset, and at least from this point
on there would be no difficulty in thinking that the first land creatures were at once
formed with the first sea creatures. But if only remnants of sea creatures are found in
the earliest geological strata, this is no reason to oppose such a simultaneous
formation, since it is acknowledged that a greater obstacle to the preservation of the
earliest land creatures existed as sea creatures. In fact, as the uplifting and subsidence
of the ground changed much earlier than today and indisputably much earlier than
today, the remnants of the land creatures were smashed and rinsed under the sea when
the ground was lowered. while the remains of the sea creatures were able to be
preserved when the soil was raised in the sediment layers gradually deposited during
the subsidence. It is known to explain that in two superimposed geological strata
remnants of very diverse organisms can occur, in that between the deposition of these
strata under the sea a time of elevation fell at this point, from which no organic
residues have been preserved.
3) In order to give the imagination some latitude in a field where the definite
conclusion is not enough, I suppose, assuming the first of the previous hypotheses,
that the solid substance from the outset is not pure on the solid crust inorganic matter,
but precipitated in the form of a dense slime permeated by organic matter and organic
motion (to make use of this shorthand expression), in the layers of which the organic
matter was still burned by the heat of the earth's crust; the later dejected layers
remained viable. This whole dense mass of slime was hanging from the
beginning. But by the first living contractions of them the inorganic mass was
excreted,
The primeval sea, from the outset, I think in connection with organic matter only
looser and looser, spongy or netlike, and the sea of air even looser from a coherent
organic bubble-foam, interwoven, from this the water and the air as before the soil by
the contraction of organic matter itself, breaking the connection between them,
according to which, from the outset, smaller and larger creatures float insularly in the
sea, hovering in the air like a cloud, and wanting to split and differentiate themselves
further, with an infusor dust early, if not from the beginning was split off.
Still more uniform is the developmental process of the organic world, if one
imagines, without falling back on an earlier separation into three realms, that it was
the same unified creature, which sweated out a firm shell and a firm bottom, the
dripping sea and exhaled the air over it, and at first represented a creature, through
which all three kingdoms grew organically, which later divided and differentiated.
Of course, in the palaeontological classes, nothing of such stories is written
down; but do their lettering, written only in isolated letters, even extend to the
beginning of history? Admittedly, it is assumed that the land animals developed first
from the aquatic animals and the aerial animals from all at the latest; but is one bound
to this assumption by the paleontological facts? Well, if the previous fantasies, for
which I only give them, should not be compatible with paleontology, as to which a
thorough acquaintance deserves to be judged, then it does not cost anything to
abandon them, and one then likes the idea of how the transition from the cosmo-
organic to the molecular-organic state, looking for in other fantasies or more definite
ideas, or put the question of the more specific. But it was only about the attempt of
such a stop here.
XI.
Teleological and psychophysical utilization of the principle of
the tendency to stability.
Even if the first arrangement of the particles of the Earth's mass was so irregular,
confused, indeed, if we accidentally place the particles by hand in the space which
the earth occupied from the beginning, then it will nevertheless be affected by the
action of its internal forces and forces On the part of the powers of the other heavenly
masses, according to the principle of the tendency to stability, the earth must
necessarily have come more and more towards a state, and, if it has not yet reached it,
go further, from which one can say by popular expression that everything is possible
fits in well with it; and should the particles in the other celestial masses have been
arbitrarily distributed differently than in the earth-sphere, yet they will no less have
approached such a state, and will continue to approach it; yes not only everything in
each celestial body as possible fit together, but also fit together as possible as
possible. For what do we understand by mating? That each part contributes through
the action of its forces, the others and herewith the whole in a sustainable, but that is
just in a stable, to put state and to preserve it. However, we only speak of possible
matching, because in general only an approximation to full stability is achievable.
The organic kingdom is subject to development in the sense of this principle in
solidarity with the inorganic. The cosmo-organic empire has then dealt with the most
harmonious organic and inorganic, or, rather, continues to contend with the most
compatible conditions possible. Even with the first dispute, much of the initial
confusion and restless changeability of conditions was lifted, and even today man
continues to elaborate the surface of the earth in the same sense, and is worked on by
climatic and ground relations, that the relations between earth and man always more
stable and thus more and more compatible. The organic kingdom in itself has,
according to the same course, dealt with organisms more or less interdependent; The
principle of referential differentiation and of the struggle for existence are, as we have
discussed, only a lever for progress on this principle; whereas the principle of
heredity secures the successes of progress so far.
It can not be said that the achievement of full stability in the world would be the
attainment of an eternal standstill, but only the achievement of the most compatible,
and therefore no further change; State of motion in the world; and why should not the
most fitting thing be repeated forever, if eternal repetition itself is the most
fitting? Only a state that leads to eternal repetition can not be attained for the whole
world in any finite time, and eternal repetition in detail can only be the most
appropriate insofar as it enters into the whole, whereas continuous changes of the
individual itself must contribute to approximating this state of the whole.
For the notion of matching and passing in the previous sense, we may make
another concept related to it, which, however, preferably applies only in relation to
the organic field, dependent on our principle, that of expediency.
In fact, if we consider it more closely, the processes of development, the devices,
and the external conditions of an organism are only appropriate insofar as they lead to
an approximate organic state and within certain time limits, albeit with greater or
lesser variations to be able to maintain; For the dying of an organism is based on the
material side on the loss of organic stability. According to this, the principle of the
tendency toward stability coincides with the teleological principle, as far as it is
related to the material side of the organic world. But with the fact that the tendency to
the goal does not mean the achievement of the goal and the goal can only be achieved
in approximations, we also gain the point of view,
The fact that the principle of the tendency to stability not only does not hinder the
transition of organic stability into inorganic through the finite death of the organism,
but even has the ultimate goal of promoting stability, does not contradict
identification with the teleological principle Rather, it serves to confirm it, for the last
principle, as far as it is active in the world - and further on, can not be said of it - just
as little hinders the death of the organisms.
In that the tendency to stability, in the sense of the causal principle, takes place
through the legal effect of forces, lies the often-absent compatibility of the two
principles in the physical domain, in that the two differ only in that the causal
principle is the reason, in the teleological the goal and the same legal sequence.
Indeed, the now-fashionable contempt for the teleological principle rests only on
the failure to find a principle of solidarity with the causal principle of where it is
aimed. In principle, the tendency to stability but one has such a principle.
An important meaning has been attached to the later doctrine of descent in that the
teleological principle is thereby thoroughly eliminated, in that the organic expediency
can only be achieved by the fact that of all causally possible and realizing devices,
only those which are capable of preservation and reproduction It is just expedient to
be able to sustain and reproduce, to displace others from them and to enter into them,
so that there is no need for a principle which is particularly directed toward
expediency. In itself, the causal principle, which was to be claimed solely for the
event, was indifferent to purposeful and improper successes, and therefore arose
indifferently both as one and the other, but only those could survive. But is the
principle of the tendency to stability In this way, expedient and ineffectual successes
are in fact not indifferent to the causal principle leading to it, but, without the most
expedient, to be attained completely at once, it nevertheless endeavors to achieve
this. And if this were not the case, then there would be absolutely no guarantee that it
would ever come to institutions which are able to maintain and reproduce, since the
conceivable untenable institutions are infinitely more than tenable.
In the meantime, one can not speak of expediency thoroughly without considering
the psychic side of existence. For example, if we call the preservation of a fixed order
of the sky appropriate; This is so because, as sentient, aesthetically determinable
beings, we like order in general, and because we sense successes of this order in the
sense of an increase in our well-being or prevention of the opposite by finding
ourselves oriented in space and time. Otherwise the order of the sky would be as
indifferent from the point of view of a purpose as the most irregular movement of the
stars among one another. From the same point of view as the external expediency is
to be considered the internal one. Should an organism be so set up In order to
maintain itself in a condition of suffering for a thousand years, this institution, in
spite of its long preservation, would be highly inconvenient; yet, generally speaking,
the internal conditions of the longest possible preservation or slow alteration of a
stable organic state coincide with the most favorable internal conditions of the well-
being associated with it, and if one has in mind the definite establishment of an object
or system, one can call anything useful in relation thereto which contributes to the
preservation of this institution, regardless of psychological importance; only this is
not the fundamental concept of expediency. yet, generally speaking, the internal
conditions of the longest possible preservation or slow alteration of a stable organic
state coincide with the most favorable internal conditions of the well-being associated
with it, and if one has in mind the definite establishment of an object or system, one
can call anything useful in relation thereto which contributes to the preservation of
this institution, regardless of psychological importance; only this is not the
fundamental concept of expediency. yet, generally speaking, the internal conditions
of the longest possible preservation or slow alteration of a stable organic state
coincide with the most favorable internal conditions of the well-being associated with
it, and if one has in mind the definite establishment of an object or system, one can
call anything useful in relation thereto which contributes to the preservation of this
institution, regardless of psychological importance; only this is not the fundamental
concept of expediency.
In order to transfer the agreed principle of causality and teleology with the mental
side of existence, one has only to suppose that the physical tendency to stability
support a mental tendency to induce and maintain precisely the conditions on which
the physical is, whether 1) ; It must, however, be taken into consideration that the
psychical tendency may be partly over partly below the threshold of consciousness
and partly affective, partly with the idea of the external means by which it takes
place, and with the purpose itself.
1) For this an addition at the end of this section.
According to the assumptions now made in these respects as to the states of
consciousness of the world as a whole, as well as to individual regions of them, this
conception may undergo a very different embodiment. But every attempt at such an
embodiment encounters the fundamental difficulty that man, like every individual
being, knows immediately only of his own consciousness, without being able to deny
the existence of consciousness beyond him, and thus prove neither positive nor
negative assumptions about it through direct experience or to refute, leaving room for
indirect inferences, which may give more or less confidence, but which ultimately
can only be concluded in one faith whose needs are different in different ones. As I
myself seek to satisfy the same,
In any case, according to the preceding, the causal and teleological view of events
will have to be regarded as complementary, instead of rejecting one for the sake of
the other, as so often happens; and to say briefly that the causal sequence of events is
inherent in such a teleological principle that psychic and physical tendencies pursue
the same goals. Depending on whether the causal or teleological point of view is
clearer, or the direction of observation is determined by the intention of the latter, it
will be preferable to stick to one or the other.
In a thoroughgoing teleological and psychophysical utilization of the principle of
the tendency to stability, as at issue here, it is indisputable that a great deal must be
taken into consideration, which is not taken here, insofar as it deals only with the
establishment of the most general aspects was. It will be considered that the more
remote the tendency to stability between given parts or systems, the more remote
from each other, and less connected, but also the teleological and psychophysical
relationship between the parts or systems decreases and the teleological and
psychophysical disadvantage, which depends on the instability, thereby
diminishes; that the periodicity on which the stability is based is a simple or a
composite,
Additive.
Insofar as conscious impulses are always related to pleasure or pain, pleasure or
pain can also be thought of as being stable and instable in a psychophysical
relationship; and, on this basis, the hypothesis to be developed elsewhere by me can
be substantiated, that every psycho-physical movement that exceeds the threshold of
consciousness is subject to pleasure as it approaches total stability beyond a certain
limit, with disgust It is a measure that deviates from it to a certain limit, but between
the two limits, which are the qualitative threshold of pleasure and pain, there is a
certain breadth of aesthetic indifference; it being recalled that possibly any kind of
movement in the world, except perhaps the uniform, may be considered
psychophysical, that is, it is capable of becoming conscious if only one degree of its
living force, which, according to the difference of the movement, is exceeded, which,
in relation to the qualitative threshold, which refers to the form of the movement, can
be called a quantitative threshold. The difficulty that arises at first glance, namely,
that the most pleasurable, ie, according to the hypothesis, the most stable state of
motion in one part of our psychophysical system, loses more and more of the effect
of constant support, and finally gives way to the reluctance of boredom or weariness
It may, in part, be distinguished by the fact that the inner excitement, which depends
on the action, according to the law of blunting, more and more goes towards the
quantitative threshold of strength, on the basis of which the degree of pleasure
depends, and partly on the presupposition of such an arrangement of our
psychophysical system, that an approximately stable state of the whole system exists
only with a certain change of excitement between its individual parts, to which the
unilateral excitement continued beyond a certain limit one of them contradicts. We
finally get tired of the idea of the most beautiful painting, but not because we are too
displeased by the painting but by the lack of change. For further explanations here is
not the place; and to acknowledge that the previous hypothesis of uncertainty has not
been lacking so far. that an approximately stable state of the whole system exists only
with a certain change of excitement between its individual parts, to which the
unilateral excitement of any one, continued beyond a certain limit, contradicts. We
been lacking so far. that an approximately stable state of the whole system exists only
with a certain change of excitement between its individual parts, to which the
unilateral excitement of any one, continued beyond a certain limit, contradicts. We
been lacking so far. For further explanations here is not the place; and to
acknowledge that the previous hypothesis of uncertainty has not been lacking so
far. For further explanations here is not the place; and to acknowledge that the
previous hypothesis of uncertainty has not been lacking so far.
XII.
Beliefs.
Notwithstanding that the following are essentially only beliefs which find their
motive partly in other aspects than can be discussed here, I absolutely do not know
what exactly opposes these views; they can only be substantiated as precisely as
refuted; but there are other and higher interests than can be exactly settled, and which
are in essential connection with the ones that come up here.
First of all, I do not know what would prove against an institution of the entire
material world, including the earthly and the organic, which carries on with
consciousness. One finds a counter-argument in the fact that this institution is carried
out with legal necessity, and may not have two causes of events instead of one,
conscious impulses and law-governing forces. At the same time those who most
emphatically set themselves this position are at the same time the most firmly
convinced that all, even the highest processes of consciousness in man, not excluding
the will of the latter, are connected with material processes which arise with legal
necessity and before them go and carry the processes of consciousness just as legally
necessary. So how can they be in a legal need with which material processes take
place, find a counter-argument in that they are bearers of consciousness, specifically
of conscious impulses, which are just there to where the material aims are. Why
should the creative, creative, educational activity of the world be lawless at all in
order to be conscious of it? First of all, the naturalist may declare the conscious
impulses and activities in man to be lawlessly arising and acting, which he does not
like in his deterministic decisiveness, before he, for the sake of the lawfulness, with
which the order and elaboration of the world has come about declared
unconscious. In fact, I miss in the seemingly exact negative views that prevail over
this in the circle of today's naturalists, quite the exact reason and the exact
consequence. Rather, instead of contradicting the belief in the existence of a
consciously administering God, that there are no miracles, they would only contradict
the theologians if they require miracles to believe in God.
But if there are naturalists, and I only want to interrogate myself here with
naturalists, who confess to the belief in the possibility of miracles in man, that
sometimes new beginnings of a causal course of events occur in man, which have no
sufficient reason in earlier events so it can not be harder for them to believe in the
possibility of such miracles beyond man. For though one may find reasons or
difficulties for the belief that there is indeterministic freedom in the world at all, and
that is what it is about, it is the same with respect to what happens in man and beyond
man. Everywhere it remains a question of faith; and how she decides; Thus the
question of the existence of consciousness beyond man, but only of the determination
or indetermination of consciousness in general, can not be decided, for whose
decision it is not to be done here. It is not well to mix questions that can be divorced.
Now the naturalist may have other reasons for denying a conscious creation and
action in the world beyond human and animal, above all, that there are no nerves
beyond men and animals. But I mean, elsewhere 1) have shown palpable enough not
to come back here to the fact that the conclusion which is drawn from the absence of
nerves to the absence of sensation and conscious processes at all, the last to flush just
comes right; also do not think that he is thereby more accurately that exact
researchers still continue to to rest, although I am surprised that they do.
1) "Nanna" 73; "About the Soul Question" 27.
Some may also miss a certain central point in the world in which the unity of a
world consciousness is reflected, and from which conscious drives uniformly
penetrating through the world take their exit. But is there such a central point for
human consciousness in the human brain? And just as well, for the gravitational force
that consistently penetrates the world, one could miss the particular central point,
where it reflects itself, and from which its effects take its exit. But even here I
have 2 elsewhere enough disseminated.
2) "Atomic Doctrine". 2nd ed. 27. Sec. "Elements of Psychophysics" II, 392 ff.
The fact that there are positive motives which, with the help of such and other false
conclusions and loose reflections, believe that the faith which one believes to have to
contradict in the world, is demonstrated by the spreading and preservation of it by
peoples and times; for it is the religious faith, which can always be challenged anew,
but never overthrown, which of course produces enough excrements that fall with
time, but only strengthened as a tribe and spread into permanent branches, is that
Believe in a few living God with its consequences. Although faith may at times be
weakened or rejected, and if we do not live in such a period as has been experienced
several times, it is only a return with an approach to renewed strengthening or
purification.3) . But if in the textbooks of the mechanics and sermons of the
materialists one finds neither of these motives nor reasons, one does not have to look
for them; nevertheless they exist.
3) In-depth is acted on in my writing: "The three motives and reasons of
faith". Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel.
Do you shun the dualism of two effective principles? But in order to avoid it, there
are various monistic conceptions that do not require us to abstract from a conscious
activity in the world; and how should they, since they have to let such a rule exist in
man, why not beyond it? For my part, I take the consciousness 4) at all as an inner
appearance of what appears outwardly as a material process by finding that to be
better represented in connection with this version the most fundamental facts of the
relationship between body and soul, than by any other version 5); and perhaps it
would be better to pay attention to this in the future than to ignore it since; Andre,
after all, may here translate our version into a more familiar one.
4)Here in the broadest sense, that is, not merely as self-consciousness, but so
understood that even the most sensuous sensation occurs beneath it.
5)Comp. the entrance of the first part of my "Elements of Psychophysics". In
more detail, this view of the relationship between body and soul is discussed in
"Zendavesta" II, 313; and a deepening of it can be found in the text "On the
Soul Question", Sect. X.
Now, in my opinion, the task of natural science as such is to consider the world and
the events therein in the context of an external standpoint on the side of external
appearance and to pursue; and it is undisputed that it is right not to interfere with
spiritual powers, which are merely a matter of contemplation from the inner point of
view and therefore a matter of inner appearance. Each of the two ways of looking at
things has its own consequence. Thus, a scientific history of creation as such can not
be expected to deal with intellectual creative forces; but with the assertion that there
is no creative consciousness as the inner manifestation of the material world process,
it should not concern itself so much; because it is not at all on their way to have a
judgment on it. That something is not part of a doctrine does not prove that it does
not exist. Thus physiology, instead of thinking and volition, has to do only with the
brain processes, which belong as external phenomena to it. If one could see
outwardly into a living brain, then one could not see in it any of the conscious spirit
which is merely a matter of inner appearance, and thus who looks into the world
outwardly, nothing of the conscious God in it; hence it is natural that Laplace, in
surveying the whole sky, declared that he could not find God; he just did not stand on
the inner divine point of view. If it is not possible to eliminate psychology through
physiology, then one should not want to eliminate religion through the natural
sciences, nor should one eliminate the spiritual creative powers through the material
sciences. But in religion, only the historical and practical side of the knowledge of the
existence and control of a conscious mind in the world is represented,
After these general preliminary remarks, I will go into more detail on the beliefs to
be discussed here.
Without presupposing any definite order in the disposition of world matter, I seek
the administration of the conscious world-creative and ordering principle in the
evocation of order itself through the forces which serve it. If the world had been
ordered from the beginning, there was nothing more for God to do in it; The tendency
to order that runs through the world is now asserted in the material sense as a
tendency toward stability; and this has the same direction as the conscious tendency
attached to it or appearing within, not unlike the material tendency to move my arm
in the same direction as the will attached to it.
This conscious creative and ordering principle, which goes through the whole
world, is now also active in the order and organization of the earthly kingdom, and
thus in the creation and development of the organic existence of this kingdom. and
the consciousness of the creatures themselves is to be regarded as a scion of the
primordial consciousness engrossed in the earthly kingdom and individualized in
it. The Bible says that God breathed in the soul of man. Well; but it did not come
from emptiness, but the cosmo-organic kingdom of the earth was the blower filled
with God's breath, from which the wind penetrated all the whistles.
It may be pointed out that the human embryo goes through a long series of stages
of development in the unconscious until it is born into a conscious life; and,
accordingly, it was especially true with the whole world and with the earth; Only
later, when the organic creatures arose, was consciousness awakened in it. But one
can also point out that the stages of development which the embryo of a creature now
unconsciously passes through are only the consequence of stages of development
which have been consciously passed through by the precursors of the creature, and
which are now repeated in the embryo only through heredity, through which
unconsciously it is possible to repeat consciously what has emerged; proof: the
establishment of the shepherd dog and chicken dog for their achievements; -
Furthermore, even today the embryo can still only be conceived and born by
conscious parents, and it is only with consciousness that it can elaborate the inherited
plants. So far as we can pursue it backwards and around us, conscious life arises and
institutions emerge to conscious life only from conscious life 6)and, accordingly, the
belief is that the first genesis of the consciousness of the creatures also takes place
from a conscious source. And why should a cosmo - organic system not be as good a
carrier of consciousness as the molecular - organic one that produces it? I repeat, it
can not be exactly proved; but here, too, it is only a matter of refuting seemingly
exact counter-proofs against a belief which has to be based on other points of view as
exact proof, and of opening up probabilities for it.
6)Of course I hereby contradict Hartmann's doctrine, which is to be
contradicted but also on the other side reason enough.
Experience has shown that all conscious activity in extinction (sinking below the
psycho-physical threshold) leaves behind residues, institutions in the organization,
which not only facilitate the repetition of the same conscious activity in the same
individual, but are also capable of inheritance to a certain extent. And so, indeed,
there is no obstacle to thinking that the whole of today's expedient formation of the
embryo is only the inherited legacy of the elaboration of the first, consciously
conditioned, human being, which was born by a long series of conscious generations
For this very reason it is only possible to elaborate finer determinations, because it
includes the entire main plant as the heir of earlier conscious acquisition at birth. But
what is true of the purpose of the establishment of the human embryo will be that of
the convenient institution of the whole world. However much of it now
unconsciously continues to exist in the service of conscious life or as the starting-
point of new conscious life, it will be but the remnant or the legacy of earlier
conscious creation and action.
It is arguable whether the egg or the hen was the first. But this conflict is not to be
confused with whether unconsciousness or consciousness was the first; for the
unconscious egg, too, would not be able to give a conscious hen, if it had not an
attachment to it as an inheritance of earlier consciousness, that one does not only in a
first hen; but in the cosmo-organic kingdom has to look.
The fact that the elaboration of the whole world, and of the earthly and organic
kingdom in particular, was done by conscious activity, does not, of course, imply that
it was also carried out with conscious foresight and purpose. But it is natural to
believe that these have always gone so far; when it was necessary for the attainment
of the ends of the world, as far as they have now been attained, and that they have
always gone beyond the conscious foresight and purpose of the creatures of the same
time, provided they are merely subordinate members of the whole, that of general
consciousness are heard; but a more comprehensive mind can also have greater
foresight. Without consciousness of remote purposes, much can be expediently
carried out with and out of the consciousness of present needs or evils, insofar as
their sensation (more precisely material process, to which the sensation depends)
immediately triggers the process of fulfilling the need or avoidance of evil, to be
psychophysically utilized Laws which submit to the principle of the tendency to
stability. But every development of conscious life will also lead to the conscious
foreknowledge and setting of distant ends, in that even many present needs and evils
can only be fulfilled or lifted by a chain of activities, one of which is consciousness
and related to the ultimate goal the organic machine of man in the particular or world
as a whole is necessary, in short, for which conscious foresight and purpose constitute
the inner appearance of the activities leading to the purpose. Insofar as the divine
goal, remote from the human consciousness, suffices to fulfill it, God will not strive
beyond it, but will take care of it in man and through man; but since it does not reach
far into any finite creature, it will be also the occasion for God to take care of it with
a further foresight and purpose; and the scientific confidence in the principle of the
tendency to stability will be able to underpin the religious trust that God will direct
and turn everything to the best, provided the divine providence and guidance is
immutable in the sense of this principle,
Now one can say: then I rely on the principle rather than on God. But one thing
does not differ from the other, if the principle is the very principle of divine creation
and action. The living trust of a conscious being can only go to the conscious side of
the principle. Even those who rely on parents and friends place their trust in what
they know or presuppose from the consciousness of them, rather than on a principle
that governs the material processes which are subject to their consciousness, although
there are those which are subject to them. It can not be otherwise with the trust in
God.
According to the basic idea that we made of the cosmo-organic system, there is no
reason to regard consciousness as split from the very beginning. But it may be
wondering how it is now, after this system has turned into a molecular - organic and
inorganic, and that into different creatures. In this respect, however, as well as belief,
different ways can go.
It can certainly be imagined that in the differentiation of cosmic primordial matter
into the molecular, organic, and inorganic, the inorganic remained below the
threshold of consciousness, and only the organic as a consciousness of consciousness
emerged above the threshold. and that in the differentiation of organic matter into the
vegetable and the animal, the vegetable remained below the threshold again, and only
the animal exceeded it, but the consciousness of the animal kingdom disintegrated
into separate units. This brings you back to the prevailing ideas.
Against this my belief that the cosmo-organic realm in its development on the
spiritual side as well as on the material side has only been divided, not split, as I
believe the same of the whole world, but from the material side need not just believe.
In fact, I think that the creation of the individual organic creatures had no other
meaning than to purposefully specialize and combine the bodily agencies that carry
and serve the consciousness in accordance with the localities and circumstances, and
thereby the entire conscious life of the earth to elevate a higher level than that which
could be achieved without distinction - of the consciousness of the creatures and the
underlying material institutions, because higher relationships and connections
themselves presuppose a difference and, in a certain sense, a separation of the one to
be connected. How should z. For example, social relationships between people can
arise if people's consciousness is not divorced from a certain point of view. Just as
little could they exist, if it were not linked from other points of view. On the material
side, however, this connection takes place through the inorganic realm, and this could
not bring about a connection between spirits, without themselves being the bearers of
spiritual interaction. The gaze goes through the light ether, with which we are all
surrounded; the word goes through the air; the corridor, the ride follows the roads on
the earth; Scripture, the works of art, are the remains of former conscious activity,
capable of igniting new consciousness. Each of us feels only one-sidedly the
intervention of it in his consciousness and thereby a relation to other consciousness,
without feeling the totality of these relationships. But I think that all this is being
overtaken by a common consciousness, which, in addition to the sum of the
consciousness of the individual organic creatures, also includes the consciousness of
the total relations between them in a similar sense, as the consciously divorced areas
of consciousness of our individual senses are overlapped by a common
consciousness, which, besides the sum of them, also the consciousness of their
relations includes. But beyond the unity of consciousness in the earthly realm, there
will finally be one for the whole world.
If we think of the strings working together as a music, living each one of their own
tone and the change of their tone through the propagation of the vibrations into them
from other strings, then they could only make this change a faint nuance of their own
tone and every other string would perceive its own as another nuance. But if the air
felt at the same time and in connection with the strings, the system of both with the
tones of the individual strings could feel the full melody and harmony of the whole
play as the vibrations of all the strings propagated through the air and intersected in it
but the game is created and entertained only by mediating the strings, and neither the
strings for themselves nor the air for themselves the condition of the audibility of the
whole game are sought. For the strings put the organic creatures, for the air, the
inorganic realm in between. Basically, it is the same principle in which the so simple
brain fibers, which are only highly inter-linked, strike bridges between all our sensory
and locomotor organs. These are fixed bridges; but it is necessary for these fixed
bridges in the organisms of the freely changeable, if not the whole life of the earth to
be struck in firm gang. as when the so simple brain fibers, which are only very
interdependent of each other, build bridges between all our organs of movement and
senses. These are fixed bridges; but it is necessary for these fixed bridges in the
organisms of the freely changeable, if not the whole life of the earth to be struck in
firm gang. as when the so simple brain fibers, which are only very interdependent of
each other, build bridges between all our organs of movement and senses. These are
fixed bridges; but it is necessary for these fixed bridges in the organisms of the freely
changeable, if not the whole life of the earth to be struck in firm gang.
As intricate as our brains are, and as much as one may be tempted to attach to this
entanglement a height of spiritual qualities, the world is unspeakably more
complicated, being an entanglement of all entanglements, including our brains
themselves; why, then, even higher spiritual qualities, than come to us, are bound up
with this higher entanglement. The construction and expansion of the sky seems in
fact only simple, if you pay attention only to the large masses, not on their
elaboration and concatenation. The cosmic bodies are not raw, uniform lumps, and
the relations of light and gravity interpenetrate between them in the most manifold
and complicated manner. But that the many in the world are grouped, summarized,
divided, not contradictory,
Of course, in all that dogma, which is based on false conclusions of experience
rather than follows from a correct one, one must abandon the fact that consciousness
is merely bound to fixed strands of nerves. Also, in the absence of all contradictory
points of view, nothing hinders the holding of a ray of light only for a nerve stripped
of its protein envelope, and with this assumption to supplement other points of view,
if they require it. But such nerves thwart the universe and interweave in space.
Nor do I share the prevailing views with regard to the senselessness of the
plants. But it is not my intention here to enter into details about, or continue to run the
previous after myself in earlier writings 7) have spread enough about it. I am
conscious that I have carefully considered the actual circumstances in connection
with them, which up to now have been the basis for a clear view of these things,
compatible with our natural scientific and religious interests, as opposed to a
construction of empty concepts or rigid dogmas in anticipation that psychophysics
will provide even greater security; and I do not think that these contemplations,
which are closed by the chaos of the prevailing views, become fantasies by being
explained from point of view and inferences, like those which I thought of as input,
which do not even have the value of fantasies. But if you wonder that the
"Zendavesta" and "The Elements of Psychophysics" Coming from the same man, it is
the same miracle, as branch and root come from the same seed and have come
together for the same plant. Of course, the root can not reach directly into the branch.
7)
"Nanna," "Zendavesta," "On the Soul Question," and "The Three Motifs and
Reasons of Faith."
Of course, all the parables that we need and have used elsewhere are to explain the
relationships of the whole to relations of parts of the whole, just parables that can not
strike to the last, but only so far as the difference of the part of Whole, the special of
the general, in which the special is included, does not come into consideration. The
world as a whole has no brain like man, otherwise it would no longer be greater and
higher than man; but that does not hinder the common principle of establishment and
achievement from the world down into man, and from there into the world; one has to
face them and pursue them, thereby increasing and expanding the point of view in
order to see the higher and further, not to seek or to foster the same institutions as to
the greater and higher achievements in the world, and because one does not find
them, to deny them the ability to even equal performances. But this is the traditional
way to handle these things; And so I am of course not to be alienated, if one can not
find oneself in it and has suspected me on all sides that I give more to parables in the
first sense, that is with regard to the inequality of circumstances, than the same in the
last sense.

Some Ideas To Creation and Development History The Organisms.-english-Gustav Theodor Fechner

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Some Ideas To Creation and Development History The Organisms.-english-Gustav Theodor Fechner

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Some ideas

Creation and development history

Gustav Theodor Fechner.

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