The Function of Reason

History discloses two main tendencies in the course of events. One tendency is exemplified in the slow decay of nature. With stealthy inevitableness, there is degradation of energy. The sources of activity sink downward and downward. They very matter wastes. The other tendency is exemplified by the yearly renewal of nature in the spring, and by the upward course of biological evolution. In these pages I consider Reason in its relation to these contrasted aspects of history. Reason is the self-discipline of the originative element in history. Apart from the operations of Reason, this element is anarchic.