Chapter V: Some Conditions of Evolution

§ 1. The concept of _evolution_ an attempt to interpret
natural processes in terms of individual growth. § 2.
Evolution means change culminating in an end which is
the result of the process and is qualitatively new. The
concept is thus teleological. § 3. Evolution, being
teleological, is essentially either progress or
degeneration. If it is more than illusion, there must be
real _ends_ in the physical order. And ends can only be
real as subjective interests of sentient beings which
are actualised by the process of change. § 4. Thus all
evolution must take place within an _individual_
subject. § 5. Further, the subject of evolution must be
a _finite_ individual. All attempts to make “evolution”
a property of the whole of Reality lead to the infinite
regress. § 6. The distinction between progressive
evolution and degeneration has an “objective” basis in
the metaphysical distinction between higher and lower
degrees of individuality. § 7. In the evolutionary
process, old individuals disappear and fresh ones
originate. Hence evolution is incompatible with the view
that Reality consists of a plurality of ultimately
independent finite individuals 265