Abstract
IN this little book, an expanded version of his Purser Lecture at Trinity College, Dublin, Prof. Wood Jones expresses his general philosophical convictions. The whole universe, he argues, forms one system, a chain of being including both the animate and the inanimate. Man has his place in the system along with all other creatures and is in no way apart from or above it. The system is not to be considered as a mechanical aggregate but as exhibiting design throughout and as the sphere of purposive action ; as, in fact, the outcome of the creative purpose of the cosmic mind. The author invokes, in support of his view, the animism attributed to primitive man, the systems of Buddha and Lao Tze, and also of Plato and Aristotle-rather a mixed bag of authorities.
Design and Purpose
By Prof. Frederic Wood Jones. Pp. 84. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1942.) 5s. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
RITCHIE, A. Design and Purpose. Nature 150, 69 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150069a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150069a0