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AN EPITOME OF JAINISM.
from its embryonic beginning to its final and Evolution mature form. This adult form was regarded as
was original
ly Teleo- the end aimed at through the whole process,
logical.
so that the whole process was the working of an idea-entelechy or soul shaping the plastic material and directing the process of growth. Evolution, in short, implied ideal ends controlling physical means- -in a word was 'teleological'. But now the term 'Evolution', though retained, is retained merely to denote the process by which the mass and energy of the Universe have passed from some assumed primeval state to that of distribution which we have at present. It is also implied that the process will last till some ultimate distribution is reached whereupon a counterprocess of dissolution will begin and from which new Evolution will proceed. "An entire history of anything" Mr.
Spencerian Spencer tells us "must include its appearance
definition of
Evolution. out of the imperceptible and its disappear
ance into the imperceptible. Be it a single object or the whole Universe, any account which begins with it in a concrete form is incomplete." In these and such like instances Mr. Spencer sees the formula of evolution
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