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The Evolution of Life—Mechanism and Teleology
Of duration in general—Unorganized bodies and abstracttime—Organized bodies and real duration—Individuality andthe process of growing old [1]
Of transformism and the different ways of interpreting it—Radicalmechanism and real duration: the relation of biology tophysics and chemistry—Radical finalism and real duration:the relation of biology to philosophy [23]
The quest of a criterion—Examination of the various theorieswith regard to a particular example—Darwin and insensiblevariation—De Vries and sudden variation—Eimer andorthogenesis—Neo-Lamarckism and the hereditability ofacquired characters [59]
Result of the inquiry—The vital impetus [87]

[CHAPTER II]

The Divergent Directions of the Evolution ofLife—Torpor, Intelligence, Instinct
General idea of the evolutionary process—Growth—Divergentand complementary tendencies—The meaning of progress and ofadaptation [98]
The relation of the animal to the plant—General tendency ofanimal life—The development of animal life [105]
The main directions of the evolution of life: torpor, intelligence,instinct [135]
The nature of the intellect [151]
The nature of instinct [165]
Life and consciousness—The apparent place of man in nature [176]

[CHAPTER III]

On the Meaning of Life—The Order of Natureand the Form of Intelligence
Relation of the problem of life to the problem of knowledge—Themethod of philosophy—Apparent vicious circle of the methodproposed—Real vicious circle of the opposite method [186]
Simultaneous genesis of matter and intelligence—Geometryinherent in matter—Geometrical tendency of the intellect—Geometryand deduction—Geometry and induction—Physical laws [199]
Sketch of a theory of knowledge based on the analysis of theidea of Disorder—Two opposed forms of order: the problemof genera and the problem of laws—The idea of"disorder" an oscillation of the intellect between the twokinds of order [220]
Creation and evolution—Ideal genesis of matter—The originand function of life—The essential and the accidental in thevital process and in the evolutionary movement—Mankind—Thelife of the body and the life of the spirit [236]

[CHAPTER IV]

The Cinematographical Mechanism of Thought and theMechanistic Illusion—A Glance at the History ofSystems—Real Becoming and False Evolutionism
Sketch of a criticism of philosophical systems, based on theanalysis of the idea of Immutability and of the idea of"Nothing"—Relation of metaphysical problems to the ideaof "Nothing"—Real meaning of this idea [272]
Form and Becoming [298]
The philosophy of Forms and its conception of Becoming—Platoand Aristotle—The natural trend of the intellect [304]
Becoming in modern science: two views of Time [329]
The metaphysical interpretation of modern science: Descartes,Spinoza, Leibniz [345]
The Criticism of Kant [356]
The evolutionism of Spencer [363]

[INDEX]