Public-domain ebook
The nature of living matter
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #78368.
About this book
Lancelot Thomas Hogben’s The Nature of Living Matter is a scholarly collection of essays that grew out of a 1929 symposium on the “Nature of Life” organized by the British Association’s Physiological Section. The book opens with Hogben’s personal account of being asked to speak for thirty‑five minutes, a constraint that led him to frame his contribution as a series of “rejected addresses” that blend scientific argument with philosophical reflection. The introductory material outlines three parts, Vitalism and Mechanism, Darwinism and the Atomistic Interpretation of Inheritance, and Holism and the Publicist Standpoint, each promising a detailed examination of how modern biology intersects with, and sometimes challenges, prevailing moral and philosophical ideas. Hogben signals his intent to focus on method rather than results, positioning the work as a bridge between experimental data and broader intellectual debate.
Written in the measured, discursive style of early‑20th‑century scientific literature, the text combines rigorous argument with occasional anecdotal asides, such as the colorful portrait of the Portsmouth philosopher Ebenezer Breach. Its tone is both polemical and respectful, reflecting a period when biology was beginning to claim philosophical ground traditionally held by physics and ethics. Readers who enjoy dense, historically situated discussions of vitalism, evolution, and the philosophy of science, particularly those with an interest in the intellectual climate of the interwar years, will find Hogben’s blend of empirical focus and speculative inquiry rewarding.
Who appears in The nature of living matter
- Lancelot Thomas HogbenMiddle‑aged British scholar, balding hair, round spectacles, tweed jacket, thoughtful expression
- Ebenezer BreachOlder Portsmouth philosopher, full beard, waist‑length hair, tweed coat, contemplative gaze
The opening · free to read
In the summer of 1929 I was asked to speak for thirty-five minutes in a symposium on the Nature of Life arranged by the officers of the Physiological Section of the British Association. I soon discovered that there are many ways of filling up thirty-five minutes devoted to the consideration of so formidable a topic. Eventually I decided to make my contribution in the form which appears almost unchanged in the fourth essay of this book. By that time I had written a volume without intending to break my silence before attaining my sixtieth year. With the insertion of some material to elaborate the point of view I had developed this collection might be described as the rejected addresses. I owe to my friend Mr. Sewell, who has adopted the same standpoint in a criticism of æsthetics in course of preparation, the suggestion of the word public in contradistinction to the external world of Professor Eddington.
Four contributors to the Symposium on the Nature of Life, General Smuts, Dr. Haldane, Dr. Wildon Carr and Professor Eddington, had already published their philosophical views in book form. General Smuts and Dr. Haldane courteously wrote to me, expressing the hope that I would criticize their views destructively. I found the time at my disposal insufficient for stating my own point of view. I have responded to their invitation in these essays. If certain passages seem to some of my readers unduly polemical, I have the assurance that my fellow-contributors will regard this collection as the continuation of what was a very friendly argument.
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my friend Professor Levy for criticism and assistance in seeing this book through the press.
L. T. H.
Cape Town, April, 1930.
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