Philosophical Basis of Evolution (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Philosophical Basis of Evolution The subject of discussion in the following pages is not so much Evolution, in the ordinary sense of the term, as the Fundamental Principles which underlie this doctrine. The relation of Determinism to Evolution, and to the whole process of organic nature, which is the main idea of the book, suggested itself to my mind as far back as the year 1848. Nine years later, in a small anonymous book on Theism, now long out of print, I gave a brief statement of my views on the subject. In the "Philosophical Magazine" for July 1872, the argument was more fully stated in an article on "What Determines Molecular Motion;" and, in the "British Quarterly Review " for January 1888, the subject was discussed at still greater length in an article entitled" Evolution by Force Impossible." The present volume is not of a speculative or hypothetical character. The reader will readily perceive that all the main conclusions are, without; exception, deduced from facts or from fundamental principles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.