Page:A Brief History of Modern Philosophy.djvu/260

 Rh and differentiation, whilst the hypothetical conditions demand the presence of both processes. Notwithstanding his sublime optimism, Spencer was therefore unable to furnish a proof of harmonious evolution. With Hegel "the higher unity" was a logical necessity; but a final deduction is impossible in the case of Spencer's systematic positivism, even though the problem which here arises did not clearly occur to him.

d. The series of works which furnish a detailed development of the theories advanced in the First Principles contain a gap, due to the fact that Spencer failed to furnish a specific treatise on evolution in the sphere of inorganic phenomena. On the other hand he demonstrates the general forms of evolution in the realms of biology, psychology, sociology and ethics in detail.

Life, according to Spencer, consists of an adjustment of internal relations to external relations. Organisms are not only directly determined by external factors, but there are indirect factors likewise developed from within by means of which they are enabled to adjust themselves more advantageously to future conditions than in the past. That is to say these influences lead to a transposition of the organic elements; the structure changes under the influence of function. This gives rise to variations which then endeavor to survive in the struggle for existence. Spencer attaches greater importance to the adaptation resulting from the exercise of the functions than to that resulting from the loss and death of such forms as are ill-adapted by "natural selection" (which Spencer prefers to call "the survival of the fittest").

Consciousness is likewise a form of adaptation. As soon as the number of objective impressions increases, the corresponding subjective states can only adjust themselves