Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Mind in Evolution
Even as to that portion of the hypothesis which I have described as being tested in the present work I cannot pretend that the test is in any sense final. The hypothesis, though it appears to me to stand the test thus far, remains a hypothesis. The nature and limits of animal intelli gence in its higher forms are matters of keen controversy, and will long remain so. In a science so little advanced as Comparative Psychology the justification for publishing any opinions or arguments must lie not in any pretence to finality, but in the hope of suggesting further investigation.
The general conception of mental evolution presented in this volume was formed some fourteen or fifteen years ago when I had come into close contact with the criticisms then current on Comte, Mill, and Spencer. The con ception has been in my mind ever since, subject to constant modification as it was confronted with fresh facts or the better psychological analysis of other thinkers. The general view of evolution which most closely cor responds to it, is to be found, I think, in Dr. Lester Ward's Outlines of Sociology, published in 1898. I mention these points as indicating the general character of my obligations to other writers.
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