IV. THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The origin of consciousness, like that of matter or energy, appears to be beyond the pale of scientific discussion. The appearance of effective consciousness on the scene of life does indeed seem to justify the belief in the prior existence of sentience as the mere accompaniment of organic behaviour. Ex nihilo nihil fit. And since effective consciousness must, on this principle, be developed from something, it is reasonable to assume that this something is pre-existing sentience. Again, we may assume that this sentience is a concomitant of all lifeprocesses, or only of some. But we have no criterion by which we can hope to determine which of these alternatives is the more probable.

We appear, however, at all events to have evidence that when effective consciousness does enter on the scene and play its part in the guidance of behaviour, its progress is, in technical phraseology, marked by that differentiation of conscious elements, and that integration of these differentiated items, which are seemingly the correlatives of the differentiation and integration of nervous systems. There is thus, presumably, a progressive development of orderly complexity in the conscious situations of which controlled or guided behaviour is the outcome. And when this has reached a certain stage-what stage it is most difficult to determine the relationships, at first implicit in the conscious situations, as they naturally arise in the course of experience, begin to be rendered explicit with the dawn of reflection. Intentional abstraction and generalization to which data are afforded by the reiterated emphasis in experience of the salient features in successive situations, supply new elements to the more highly developed situations of rational life. Ideal schemes and plans of action, the products of reflection and foresight, take form in the mind and enter into the conscious situation. And the intelligent animal, hitherto the creature of impulse, guided only by the pleasurable or painful tone which gives colour to experience, becomes

a rational being, capable of judging how far his own behaviour and that of others is conformable to an ideal.

If, then, we were asked to characterize in the briefest possible terms the stages of conscious evolution, we should say that in the first stage we have consciousness as accompaniment; in the second, consciousness as guide; in the third, consciousness as judge. And if we were pressed to apply distinctive terms to these three, we should adopt St. George Mivart's term consentience for the mid-phase, and speak of mere sentience in the first stage; consentience in the second; and consciousness, with restricted signification, in the third and highest stage. Such a distinction in terms is, however, a counsel of perfection, and we shall not attempt to preserve it in the following pages, in which the word “ consciousness " will be used in a comprehensive sense.

CHAPTER III

INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR

I. DEFINITION OF INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR

THERE are probably few subjects which have afforded more material for wonder and pious admiration than the instinctive endowments of animals. "I look upon instinct," wrote Addison in one of his graceful essays, "as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, which is not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the bodies themselves, nor from any laws of mechanism, but as an immediate impression from the first Mover and the Divine Energy acting in the creatures. In like manner Spencer said: "We may call the instincts of animals those faculties implanted in them by the Creator, by which, independent of instruction, observation or experience, and without a knowledge of the end in view, they are all alike impelled to the performance of certain actions tending to the wellbeing of the individual and the preservation of the species."† According to such views, instinct is an ultimate principle the natural genesis of which is beyond the pale of explanation. But similar views were, at the time these passages were written, held to apply, not only to animal behaviour, but also to animal, structure. The development of the stag's antler, or of the insect's wing, was also regarded as "an immediate impression from the first Mover and the Divine Energy acting in the creatures." This view, however, is, neither in the case of

*Spectator, No. 120.

+ Kirby and Spence, "Introduction to Entomology," Letter xxvii. p. 537 (7th Edit., 1858).

structure nor in the case of behaviour, that entertained by modern science. It is indeed an expression of opinion concerning the metaphysics of instinct. Leaving the question of ultimate origin precisely where it stood in the times of Addison and of Spence, modern science seeks to trace the natural antecedents of all natural phenomena, and regards structure and behaviour alike as the products of evolution, endeavouring to explain the manner of their genetic origin in terms of progressive heredity.

Omitting, therefore, all reference to problems which, however important, are beyond the limits of scientific inquiry,* we may take as a basis for further discussion Spence's definition, according to which the instincts of animals are those faculties V by which, independent of instruction, observation, or experience, and without a knowledge of the end in view, they are all alike impelled to the performance of certain actions tending to their own well-being and the preservation of the species.

Let us first consider the reference of instinctive actions to a faculty by which animals are said to be impelled to their performance. Paley also defined instinct as "a propensity prior to experience." And unquestionably in the popular conception it is usual to attribute instinctive acts to some such conscious cause. But it will be more convenient, for the present, to consider instinctive behaviour from the objective point of view, as it is presented to our observation; we may then proceed to the further consideration of the conscious concomitants which may be inferred. From the objective point of view, therefore, we may agree with Professor Groos, who says that "the idea of consciousness must be rigidly excluded from any definition of instinct which is to be of practical utility," since "it is always hazardous in scientific investigation to allow an hypothesis which cannot be tested empirically." In this we have the support of Dr. and Mrs. Peckham, whose studies of the life-histories of spiders and wasps are models of * Cf. supra, p. 18.

The Play of Animals," translated by Elizabeth L. Baldwin,

careful and patient investigation. "Under the term Instinct," they say, "we place all complex acts which are performed previous to experience, and in a similar manner by all members of the same sex and race, leaving out as non-essential, at this time, the question of whether they are or are not accompanied by consciousness.

It may be said, however, that some reference to the conscious aspect of instinctive behaviour is implied by saying that the acts are performed without instruction or experience. But the reference at present is wholly negative. We may say, as the result of observation, that instinctive acts are performed under such circumstances as exclude the possibility of guidance in the light of individual experience, and render it in the highest degree improbable that there exists any idea of the end to be attained. But this is a very different position from that of asserting the presence of a positive faculty or propensity which impels an animal to the performance of certain actions, This it is which, from the observational point of view, is unnecessary. For the reference of a given type of observed behaviour to a "propensity" so to behave or to a "faculty' of thus behaving, is no more helpful than the reference of the development of any given type of structure to a "potentiality' so to develop. We may, therefore, without loss of precision, simplify Spence's definition by stating that instinctive behaviour is independent of instruction and experience, and tends to the well-being of the individual and the preservation of the species.

Let us next consider the clause which affirms that instinctive behaviour is prior to experience. This is well in line with the distinction now drawn by biologists between congenital and acquired characters. It refers them to the former category, and implies that the organic mechanism by which they are rendered possible is of germinal origin. This is not, however, universally admitted. Professor Wundt, for example, approaching the subject from the point of view afforded by the study of man and the higher animals, gives to the term a wider meaning,

* George W. and Elizabeth G. Peckham, "On the Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps," p. 231.

F