The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. 8: January 6, 1916 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Journal of Philosophy Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. 8: January 6, 1916

They aim to interpret the evolution of species and organs in a strictly mechanistic manner. Among psychologists to-day there is a similar division into voluntarists and psychophysicists. The latter seek to minimize the efficiency of volition and to describe all human acts in terms of psychophysical activity. This would seem, in the last analysis, to involve an interpretation of purpose in physiological terms, as a series of physicochemical changes.

These differences in standpoint can scarcely be attributed to carelessness of observation. They depend rather upon certain underlying concepts and modes of thinking which govern the scientist's interpretation of observed facts and determine the character of his world-view. Among these fundamental logical notions none is more deep-seated and persistent than the concept of Purpose.

Notwithstanding the vigorous controversy that has recently waged between vitalists and mechanists, and the forceful arguments put forward in behalf of teleology and against it, neither side has so far given an adequate account of the nature of purpose itself. A thorough examination of its fundamental character might reveal a middle ground on which the two opposing parties could unite. If we rid teleology of its anthropomorphic accretions, as Hume removed the anthropomorphic notion of "necessity" from causation, there is no reason why the most thoroughgoing mechanist should not accept purposive events as a specific class of natural processes. It is possible, also, that when the scientific untenability of the traditional voluntarism is demonstrated, the vitalist will attach more weight to physicochemical processes in biological growth and activity.

One obstacle to a thorough understanding of the nature of purpose is the present lack of coordination between the various sciences. Biologists for the most part assume an interpr…