arest ourselves; but from the absolute point of
view there is no higher and lower." But this is to reduce the universe
to a madhouse. It means that there is no purpose, no reason, in
anything that happens. The universe, in this case, is irrational. No
explanation of it is possible. Philosophy is futile, and not only
philosophy, but morality and everything else. If there is really no
higher and lower, there is no better and no worse. It is just as good
to be a murderer as to be a saint. Evil is the same as good. Instead
of striving to be saints, statesmen, philosophers, we may as well go
and play marbles, because all these values of higher and lower are
mere delusions, "the human way of looking at things."

{311}

Spencer then has no answer to the question why it is better to be more
organized. So we turn at last to Aristotle. He has an answer. He sees
that it is meaningless to talk of development, advance, higher and
lower, except in relation to an end. There is no such thing as advance
unless it is an advance towards something. A body moving purposelessly
in a straight line through infinite space does not advance. It might
as well be here as a mile hence. In either case it is no nearer to
anything. But if it is moving towards a definite point, we can call
this advance. Every mile it moves it gets nearer to its end. So, if we
are to have a philosophy of evolution, it must be teleological. If
nature is not advancing towards an end, there is no nearer and
further, no higher and lower, no development. What then is the end? It
is the actualization of reason, says Aristotle. The primal being is
eternal reason, but this is not existent. It must come to exist. It
first enunciates itself vaguely as gravitation. But this is far off
from its end, which is the existence of reason, as such, in the world.
It comes nearer in plants and animals. It is proximately reached in
man, for man is the existent reason. But there is no question of the
universe coming to a stop, when it reaches its end--(the usual
objection to teleology). For the absolute end, absolute form, can
never be reached. The higher is thus the more rational, the lower the
less rational. Now if we try to go on asking, "why is it better to be
more rational?" we find we cannot ask such a question. The word "why"
means that we want a reason. And our question is absurd because we are
asking a reason for reason. Why is it better to be rational means
simply, "how is reason r