A Contribution To The Theory Of The Living Organism

CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY PAGE 1. The living organism as subject 2. Purposive action by living organisms 3. Instinctive and learnt behaviour 4. Hormic goals and biological consequences CHAPTER II. THE UNITY OF THE ORGANISM. BIOLOGICAL FIELDS 1. The synthesis of an organism out of its parts 2. Biological fields 3. The brain field 4. Gestalt psychology and the field concept 5. Brain fields and cortical localization 6. Some general features of the psychophysical field 7. The unity of the organism considered as a nexus of subjects CHAPTER III. THE ORGANISM AS A PSYCHOPHYSICAL SYSTEM 1. Perception and causation 2. Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism 3. A percipient event 4. Consciousness 5. Subjective aim and purpose CHAPTER IV. ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR IN TERMS OF PERCEPTION 1. Psychological and physiological explanations of behaviour 2. The tropism theory of behaviour 3. Learning 4. Conditioned reflexes 5. Habituation 6. Trial behaviour 7. The behaviour of the amoeba 8. CONTENTS CHAPTER V. EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT PAGE 1. Some general features of morphogenesis 2. The development of the eye 3. The interpretation of embryonic development as behaviour CHAPTER VI. EVOLUTION 1. Natural selection and the survival of the fittest 2. The origin of hereditary differences between organisms 3. Can natural selection of random variations account for evolution? 4. Lamarckian inheritance 5. Conclusion REFERENCES INDEX Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.