ABSTRACT
The work of the mind par excellence, at least in some sense, is intelligent action. When one speaks of the evolution of mind one thinks primarily of the development of intelligence, and the claim of man to superiority over other living beings is based essentially on intellectual superiority. The range of evolutionary forms is viewed as an ascending scale largely because the successive phyla are represented as a series of increasingly complex structures functioning with increasingly versatile adaptability, each of which is an ostensible step towards human beings capable of intelligent action. As in our own intelligent behaviour we are most acutely aware, and cannot consistently deny the existence of our own conscious activity, it is in the operations of the intellect more than anywhere else that we confidently assert the presence and effectiveness of mind.
