mental, some purely vital, and others purely physical or
mechanical."



CHAPTER XI--The Way of Escape



To sum up the conclusions hitherto arrived at. Our philosophers
have made the mistake of forgetting that they cannot carry the
rough-and-ready language of common sense into precincts within which
politeness and philosophy are supreme. Common sense sees life and
death as distinct states having nothing in common, and hence in all
respects the antitheses of one another; so that with common sense
there should be no degrees of livingness, but if a thing is alive at
all it is as much alive as the most living of us, and if dead at all
it is stone dead in every part of it. Our philosophers have
exercised too little consideration in retaining this view of the
matter. They say that an amoeba is as much a living being as a man
is, and do not allow that a well-grown, highly educated man in
robust health is more living than an idiot cripple. They say he
differs from the cripple in many important respects, but not in
degree of livingness. Yet, as we have seen already, even common
sense by using the word "dying" admits degrees of life; that is to
say, it admits a more and a less; those, then, for whom the
superficial aspects of things are insufficient should surely find no
difficulty in admitting that the degrees are more numerous than is
dreamed of in the somewhat limited philosophy which common sense
alone knows. Livingness depends on range of power, versatility,