Chapter I
Arthur Mitchell translation
CHAPTER I
PAGE
The Evolution of Life—Mechanism and Teleology
Of duration in general—Unorganized bodies and abstract time—Organized bodies and real duration—Individuality and the process of growing old 1
Of transformism and the different ways of interpreting it—Radical mechanism and real duration: the relation of biology to physics and chemistry—Radical finalism and real duration: the relation of biology to philosophy 23
The quest of a criterion—Examination of the various theories with regard to a particular example—Darwin and insensible variation—De Vries and sudden variation—Eimer and orthogenesis—Neo-Lamarckism and the hereditability of acquired characters 59
Result of the inquiry—The vital impetus 87