111.] Bergson, however, will not
ultimately be able to evade the work of attempting some reconciliation
of moral ideas and ideals with their crude and animal origins and
environment, to which they are so opposed and to which they are actually
offering a very strong opposition. That he himself has seen this is
proved by the attention he is now giving to the problems of social
Ethics.
There are four problems which confront every evolutionary theory. These
concern the origin of: Matter, Life, Consciousness, and Conscience.
Bergson finds it very difficult to account for the origin of Matter, and
it is not clear from what he says why the original consciousness should
have made Matter and then be obliged to fight against it in order to be
free. Then, in speaking of the law of Thermodynamics, he says: "Any
material system which should store energy by arresting its degradation
to some lower level, and produce effects by its sudden liberation, would
exhibit something in the nature of Life." This, however, is not very
precise, for this would hold true of thunder-clouds and of many
machines. In regard to Instinct, it has been pointed out by several
experts that Instinct is not so infallible as Bergson makes out. Of the
mistakes of Instinct he says little. Dr. McDougall in his great work
Body and Mind says, when speaking of Bergson's doctrine of Evolution:
"Its recognition of the continuity of all Life is the great merit of
Professor Bergson's theory of Creative Evolution; its failure to give
any intelligible account of individuality is its greatest defect.
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