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 VIRTUE AND MEANING

The revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics can be seen as a response to

the modern problem of disenchantment, that is, the perceived loss of
meaning in modernity. However, in Virtue and Meaning, David
McPherson contends that the dominant approach still embraces an
overly disenchanted view. In a wide-ranging discussion, McPherson
argues for a more fully re-enchanted perspective that gives better
recognition to the meanings by which we live and after which we
seek, and to the fact that human beings are the meaning-seeking
animal. In doing so, he defends distinctive accounts of the relation-
ship between virtue and happiness, other-regarding demands, and the
significance of linking neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics with a view of
the meaning of life and a spiritual life where contemplation has a
central role. This book will be valuable for philosophers and other
readers who are interested in virtue ethics and the perennial question
of the meaning of life.

    is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at

Creighton University. He is the editor of Spirituality and the Good
Life: Philosophical Approaches (Cambridge, ).

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 VIRTUE AND MEANING
A Neo-Aristotelian Perspective

DAVID McPHERSON
Creighton University

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 For John and Fiona

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 Contents

Acknowledgments page ix

Introduction: Toward Re-Enchantment 

 The Human Form of Life 
Neo-Aristotelian Ethical Naturalism: The Disenchanted Version 
The Human Difference: Rationality 
The Standpoint from within Our Human Form of Life:
The Space of Meaning 
Strong Evaluative Meaning 
Going Further: The Way Forward 

 Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning 

The Instrumentalist Account 
The Constitutive Account: Strong Evaluative Version 
The Constitutive Account: Weak Evaluative Version 
Virtue Apart from Happiness? 
Virtue, Loss, and the Meaning of Life 

 Other-Regarding Concern 
MacIntyre on Other-Regarding Concern 
Intrinsic Worth: Dignity and Sanctity 
Fully amongst Us: Solidarity with the Severely Afflicted and
Other Marginalized Humans 
Moral Absolutes 
Spheres of Other-Regarding Concern: Universal and Particular 

 Cosmic Outlooks 

Hursthouse’s Three Theses and Williams’ Challenge 
Identifying What Is Noblest and Best 
Against Quietism: The Need for a Moral Ontology 
Rival Cosmic Outlooks 
A Poker-Faced Universe? 

vii

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 viii Contents
 Homo Religiosus 
What Is Spirituality? 
What Kind of Naturalism? 
Human Beings as Homo Religiosus 
The Contemplative Life 
Theistic Spirituality 
Objections and Replies 

Conclusion 

References 
Index 

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 Acknowledgments

In the last chapter of this book I discuss G. K. Chesterton’s view of the

importance of taking things with gratitude rather than taking things for
granted. It is my pleasure here to acknowledge with gratitude all those who
have contributed to making this book a reality.
I thank the College of Arts and Sciences at Creighton University for a
Summer Faculty Research Grant and for other support (including several
course releases) that enabled me to complete this book in a timely manner.
I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Philosophy Department at
Creighton for a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment.
I would like to thank especially Ross Romero, Patrick Murray, Jeanne
Schuler, Richard White, Amy Wendling, and Anne Ozar for many good
discussions. I am also grateful to all the students in my courses who have
helped me to think through many of the issues discussed here.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to John Cottingham, Fiona Ellis, Sophie-
Grace Chappell, Chris Toner, and my spouse Kirstin for generously
reading the whole manuscript and providing very helpful and insightful
feedback that enabled significant improvements. I also thank Richard Kim
for reading part of the manuscript and for a number of helpful conversa-
tions, which led to improvements. There are others whom I would like to
thank for beneficial conversations: namely, Tom Angier, Greg Beabout,
Tal Brewer, Tom Cavanaugh, Brad Cokelett, Paolo Costa, Tony Cun-
ningham, Howard Curzer, Cora Diamond, Sam Fleischacker, Jennifer
Frey, Owen Goldin, Stephen Grimm, Andy Gustafson, John Hacker-
Wright, Ryan Hanley, Stan Harrison, Celeste Harvey, John Houston,
Chris Kaczor, John Kekes, Ian James Kidd, Kristján Kristjánsson, Arto
Laitinen, Simon May, Francis Petruccelli, Doug Rasmussen, Bob Roberts,
Dan Russell, Joshua Schulz, Lucas Scripter, Roger Scruton, Sara Shady,
Meghan Sullivan, Charles Taylor, Candace Vogler, Brandon Warmke, and
Mark Wynn. I would also like to thank audiences at Saint Louis Univer-
sity, University of Notre Dame, Providence College, College of Saint
ix

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 x Acknowledgments
Mary, Viterbo University, Bethel University, Saint John’s University,
University College Dublin, University of Oxford, University of Leeds,
Heythrop College, and Creighton University for helpful feedback on
material related to this book.
Chapter  is a revised and much expanded version of an essay that
originally appeared in International Philosophical Quarterly : ():
–. Chapter  is a revised and much expanded version of a book
chapter that appeared in David McPherson (ed.), Spirituality and the Good
Life: Philosophical Approaches (Cambridge University Press, ). I am
grateful for the permission to re-use and re-work this material.
I thank my editor at Cambridge University Press, Hilary Gaskin, for all
her good advice and support for this project. I also thank Hal Churchman,
Lisa Carter, YassarArafat Abdulnasser, Liz Steel, and Katherine Koopman
for their assistance in bringing this book to press.
I want especially to thank John Cottingham and Fiona Ellis for all their
support, encouragement, and friendship over the years and for their
example in being humane, spiritually engaged philosophers. I have dedi-
cated this book to them in gratitude.
Finally, I would like to thank my family. In particular, I thank my
parents for all their love and support over the years. My deepest love and
gratitude goes to my wife Kirstin, who is my dearest friend and my life
companion, and who has profoundly shaped my moral, spiritual, and
intellectual outlook to my great betterment; and to our children, Clare,
John, and Peter, who bring so much joy to our lives and help keep us
oriented toward what is most important.

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 Introduction: Toward Re-Enchantment

This book, not unlike many other works of philosophy, grew out of a sense
of dissatisfaction. In particular, while I have been drawn to the Aristotelian
tradition of virtue ethics and find much that is congenial in the revival of
this tradition in the last half-century or so, I have also been dissatisfied
with a flatness in the dominant approach among neo-Aristotelian virtue
ethicists. This dominant approach emphasizes an observational (or
disengaged) standpoint rather than a participative (or engaged) standpoint,
as seen in the stress it puts on an analogy between human flourishing and
the flourishing of other living things, and thereby it overlooks many of the
meanings by which we live and after which we seek. In other words, the
dominant approach fails to account properly for our distinctive nature as
the meaning-seeking animal. And it has thus offered an overly disenchant-
ed understanding of our human form of life. This book seeks to overcome
this constriction and argues for a re-enchanted Aristotelian perspective; that
is, it aims to give better recognition to the meanings by which we live and
after which we seek.
Although I believe the dominant approach has been overly disen-
chanted, at the same time it is also the case that neo-Aristotelians have
been concerned to respond to the modern problem of disenchantment,
that is, the perceived loss or at least threat of a loss of meaning or value
(used equivalently), especially due to the rise of the modern scientific
worldview. In the field of meta-ethics, this problem has expressed itself
in the supposed fact-value divide – the divide between is and ought – which
informs prominent subjectivist accounts of value. But, more generally, the
problem of disenchantment arises from the prevalence of various forms of
scientism in modern intellectual life. In responding to the problem of


I borrow the term “the meaning-seeking animal” from Sacks : ch. , though I fill it out in my
own way.

The concept of “disenchantment” is derived from Weber  [].

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  Virtue and Meaning
disenchantment, all neo-Aristotelians can be seen as seeking varying
degrees of re-enchantment (and so none endorses a completely disen-
chanted perspective). The central task of this book then is to articulate
and defend an even fuller kind of re-enchantment than is found in any of
the major views on offer.
I distinguish my position from two main strands of neo-Aristotelian
virtue ethics. The first is the sort of ethical naturalism that was suggested
by Elizabeth Anscombe and subsequently defended by Philippa Foot,
Rosalind Hursthouse, Alasdair MacIntyre, and others. It is the dominant
approach and the one I am most concerned to go beyond. Those who
adopt this approach can be seen as seeking a minimal form of re-
enchantment in that they attempt to overcome the supposed fact-value
divide by defending a conception of natural normativity according to
which ethical evaluations of human beings are understood on analogy with
our evaluations of other living things with respect to whether they are good
specimens of their kind. The second strand is the sort of expansive ethical
naturalism that is defended by John McDowell, who appeals to an account
of an acquired “second nature” that brings into view normative demands
that are seen as being “there in any case,” and he explicitly regards this
account as seeking to keep nature “partially enchanted.” My position has
most in common with McDowell’s position, but I also seek to go beyond
it in a number of important ways.
The key thesis that I seek to defend is that any adequate neo-Aristotelian
ethical perspective must take account of the way in which human beings
are fundamentally and distinctively the meaning-seeking animal. I focus
on three aspects of meaning-seeking here: First, it is distinctive of our
human form of life that we seek meaning in life, and in particular strong
evaluative meaning, that is, meaning or value that involves qualitative
distinction (e.g., between higher and lower, noble and base, sacred and
profane, etc.) and specifies that with which we ought be concerned and
that toward which we ought to orient our lives (e.g., the higher, the noble,
the sacred, etc.). Since these strong evaluative meanings – the noble, the
sacred, etc. – require a certain life-orientation, there is, secondly, a concern
with a meaningful life, that is, the concern is with the overall meaning of


On strong evaluation, see Taylor : Introduction and chs. –; : pt. I. As will become clear,
my approach in this book – especially in regard to philosophical anthropology – is indebted to
Charles Taylor’s work in significant ways, though he himself does not engage much with
contemporary neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics.

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 Introduction: Toward Re-Enchantment 
our lives. Finally, it is also distinctive of our human form of life that we can
be and often are concerned with the meaning of life; we are concerned with
how our lives fit into the grand scheme of things and whether there is a
cosmic or ultimate source of meaning to which we must align our lives.
I show how this concern for the meaning of life is rightly connected to a
concern for meaning in life and a meaningful life.
Given this account of our being fundamentally and distinctively the
meaning-seeking animal, we can see why the problem of disenchantment –
the perceived loss or at least threat of a loss of meaning – is such an acute
problem. In this context meaning-seeking will thus need to involve seeking
re-enchantment. My own account of what this should look like will
emerge over the course of the book, but a few clarifying remarks are
necessary here at the outset.
First of all, seeking re-enchantment does not mean a return to a pre-
modern worldview. Modern, post-Galilean natural science has made
progress precisely by offering mechanistic explanations of empirical phe-
nomena rather than the sort of teleological explanations that were central
to the pre-modern idea of a meaningful cosmic order (as in the idea of the
“Great Chain of Being”; see Lovejoy ). Whether we can do entirely
without teleological explanations is an issue we will have to consider. But
the process of disenchantment so understood in many ways constitutes an
improvement in our understanding of the world. However, it also brings
with it difficult challenges related to how we are to understand our
experiences of meaning or value. On one view of disenchantment, which
we can call “extreme” or “total” disenchantment, the loss of the pre-
modern idea of a meaningful cosmic order entails that all of our experi-
ences of meaning or value are to be regarded simply as subjective projec-
tions onto a meaningless or value-neutral universe. The most extreme
version of disenchantment combines such projectivism with a mechanis-
tic view of human beings according to which our experiences of meaning
or value are explained reductionistically in terms of our genes, or our
brain “wiring,” or a stimulus-response mechanism, or something else of
the sort. However, many want to resist such total disenchantment views –
including the neo-Aristotelians under consideration here – and doing so
can be understood in terms of seeking a kind of re-enchantment. As
Charles Taylor puts it: “‘re-enchantment’ . . . doesn’t undo the ‘disen-
chantment’ which occurs in the modern period. It re-establishes the non-
arbitrary, non-projective character of certain demands on us, which are
firmly anchored in our being-in-the-world” (b: ; cf. a:
ch. ). One of the key issues to be explored here concerns how these

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  Virtue and Meaning
perceived normative demands (i.e., objective values or meanings) are best
understood and defended.
A second clarification: The language of “re-enchantment” is potentially
misleading insofar as it might suggest that the world is completely disen-
chanted (i.e., devoid of meaning or value) and so we must create,
bestow, or otherwise bring about meaning or “enchantment.” However,
re-enchantment, as I understand it, is rather a matter of discovering
(or recovering) something that is already there to be discovered in the
world: namely, non-arbitrary, non-projective normative demands. The
world is precisely not completely disenchanted and so seeking re-
enchantment is a matter of defending the validity of these normative
demands against the total disenchantment view. This will often also
involve overcoming the ways in which these normative demands have
been neglected and occluded by prevalent forms of scientism in modern
intellectual life, which privilege a disengaged (or third-personal) standpoint
that prescinds from our engaged (or first-personal) experiences of the
significance of our lives and the beings around us.
Despite the possible misleading nature of the language of disenchant-
ment and re-enchantment, I use it here because of its place in the literature
on modernity and also because, when properly understood, it can illumin-
ate a central concern in the revival of Aristotelian ethics, and we can then
consider what is the best path toward re-enchantment. In seeking to
articulate and defend an even fuller kind of re-enchantment than is found
in any of the major views on offer, my goal is to articulate and defend a
fuller account of non-arbitrary, non-projective normative demands in
terms of the strong evaluative dimension of meaning.
In Chapter , “The Human Form of Life,” I seek to establish the claim
that we are fundamentally and distinctively the meaning-seeking animal
through an exploration of the engaged standpoint from within our human
form of life, where it can be seen that our human form of life is shaped by
strong evaluative meaning, including the strong evaluative category of the
noble, which is integral to Aristotle’s account of acting virtuously. I also
show how this dimension of meaning is overlooked by the dominant
neo-Aristotelian approach because of its emphasis on an observational


Closely connected to defending the validity of objective value or meaning, seeking re-enchantment
can also be seen to involve an aspiration to self-transcendence, where this means transcending a
“lower,” more enclosed mode of selfhood for a “higher” one that is properly responsive to such
normative demands. Thus, we can say that if the process of disenchantment – especially in its most
extreme forms – pushes toward self-enclosure, then re-enchantment must involve a move toward
greater self-transcendence in concern for such normative demands.

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 Introduction: Toward Re-Enchantment 
(or disengaged) standpoint on our human form of life rather than a
participative (or engaged) standpoint, and thus it does not provide us
with an adequate philosophical anthropology and, along with this, it
does not provide us with an adequate account of our reasons for the
life of virtue. Moreover, I seek to counter a disenchanting move made
by such neo-Aristotelians that involves denying any special realm of
obligation. There is such a realm, I argue, and it is the whole realm
of strong evaluative meaning, which includes more than just the domain
of “the moral,” narrowly construed as concerned with what we owe to
others.
In Chapter , “Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning,” I show how this
account of strong evaluative meaning allows us to overcome problems in
prominent views among neo-Aristotelians of the relationship of virtue to
happiness (e.g., instrumentalist accounts) by enabling us to regard virtue as
constitutive of happiness understood as a normatively higher, nobler, more
meaningful mode of life, and which I show is in keeping with Aristotle’s
own view of eudaimonia. I engage here especially with Philippa Foot, since
she has endorsed each of the prominent views I consider throughout her
career. In making the case for my constitutive view I also seek to avoid
McDowell’s problematic claim that “no sacrifice necessitated by the life of
excellence . . . can count as a genuine loss.” My account of a meaningful
life aims to address the problem of loss in human life, which I argue
requires us to address the problem of cosmodicy: that is, the problem of
whether we can affirm life in the world as worthwhile in the face of evil and
suffering. This problem is taken up further in Chapters  and .
In Chapter , “Other-Regarding Concern,” I discuss how strong evalu-
ative meaning makes an important difference for a proper account of the
nature and extent of the demands for other-regarding concern. The
dominant neo-Aristotelian approach has regarded the other-regarding
virtues (e.g., justice, generosity, honesty, etc.) as virtues primarily because
of their role in promoting the “good functioning of our social group,”
which is seen as important for achieving our own flourishing as rational
social animals. I focus especially on MacIntyre’s account of other-regarding
concern as rooted in social networks of giving and receiving in his book
Dependent Rational Animals. What is overlooked in the dominant
approach is the strong evaluative sense of human beings as being worthy
of our concern for their own sake due to their inherent dignity (or sanctity)
and that a normatively higher, nobler, more meaningful mode of life can
be achieved through such concern. I seek to show the difference this makes
for ensuring that we regard all human beings as fully amongst us, for

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  Virtue and Meaning
making sense of and defending moral absolutes, and for properly respond-
ing to the demands for universal and particular concern.
In Chapter , “Cosmic Outlooks,” I make the case that neo-Aristotelian
virtue ethicists need to address the question of the meaning of life, that is,
the question of how our lives fit into the grand scheme of things and
whether there is a cosmic or ultimate source of meaning to which we must
align our lives. I examine Bernard Williams’ forceful challenge that evolu-
tionary science has done away with the sort of teleological worldview that
is needed in order to make sense of an Aristotelian ethical perspective.
I consider Hursthouse’s response to Williams’ challenge and argue that it is
not sufficient. I also argue against McDowell’s quietism according to
which we should remain content with the strong evaluative meanings that
arise for us within a particular acquired ethical outlook (e.g., our sense of
the noble) and not seek to provide any ontological grounding or justifica-
tion for them beyond appealing to our second nature. I contend that what
we need is in fact a teleological worldview. Against Williams, I argue that
there is no necessary incompatibility between evolutionary science and a
teleological worldview. Indeed, there are a number of recent and contem-
porary scientists and philosophers who argue against Williams’ sort of
tragic cosmic outlook and instead see the cosmos as purposive in giving
rise to life and then to conscious intelligence. I consider both theistic and
non-theistic views of the meaning of life and seek to show how they offer
support for a strong evaluative conception of what is most admirable about
us as human beings. If all such accounts of the meaning of life are rejected,
then, I suggest, we must accept Williams’ view that a neo-Aristotelian
ethical perspective is no longer viable and only a significantly reduced form
of ethics remains possible.
In Chapter , “Homo Religiosus,” I build on the preceding discussion of
cosmic outlooks and explore the place of spirituality within a neo-
Aristotelian ethical perspective. Among neo-Aristotelians this issue is often
either ignored or excluded from consideration, which is strange given the
place of spirituality in human life. I discuss why this is and also why it is
problematic. More positively, I suggest how spirituality can play an
important role in a neo-Aristotelian account of the good life. By “spiritu-
ality” I mean a practical life-orientation that is shaped by what is taken to be a
self-transcending source of meaning, which involves strong normative demands,
including demands of the sacred or the reverence-worthy. I argue that through
an exploration of the strong evaluative standpoint from within our human
form of life as meaning-seeking animals we can come to appreciate better
the importance of spirituality for human beings throughout recorded

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 Introduction: Toward Re-Enchantment 
history up to the present and why we can be described as homo religiosus. In
addition, I argue against the anti-contemplative stance of many neo-
Aristotelians (in which they depart from Aristotle) and for the integral
importance of contemplation for human life, and for the spiritual life in
particular. I also discuss the draw of theistic spirituality, even though my
account allows for both theistic and non-theistic forms of spirituality.
In the Conclusion I summarize my case for a re-enchanted Aristotelian
perspective and suggest that if one rejects this perspective (or something
like it) then this would constitute a significant loss, precisely because of our
being the meaning-seeking animal.

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 The Human Form of Life 
the effect that many human beings are not going on ‘in the way character-
istic of the species’ and are thereby defective human beings” (). Hurst-
house also notes that once we have adopted this normative construal of our
characteristic way of going on it can be asked whether this is still a form of
naturalism. She thinks it is: “it is still the case that human beings are
ethically good in so far as their ethically relevant aspects foster the four
ends appropriate to a social animal, in the way characteristic of the
species,” that is, in a “rational way.” Appeal to the four natural ends of
social animals – () individual survival; () the continuance of the species;
() characteristic freedom from pain and characteristic enjoyment; and ()
the good functioning of one’s social group – she thinks “really does
constrain, substantially, what [one] can reasonably maintain is a virtue in
human beings” (). She illustrates this by considering whether imper-
sonal benevolence of the sort championed by Peter Singer, which does not
recognize ethical significance in species-boundaries and special relation-
ships such as familial bonds and friendship, is a virtue. Hursthouse says
that such impersonal benevolence is suspect as a virtue when we consider
the natural ends of the continuance of the species and the good function-
ing of the social group: “[On] the face of it, it rather looks as though the
species and familial bonding that are part of our biological, animal nature,
and make us ‘partial’ to our own species and children, play an essential role
in sustaining these two ends. . . . [Our] natural tendency to bond to other
human beings and our children seems to be serving us rather well”
(–). As John Hacker-Wright puts it, such appeals to human
nature for Hursthouse, as well as for Foot, serve to “define what it is to
reason well,” which means that “practical rationality is species-relative”
(: ).
But at this point we must ask: Why should someone be concerned with
being good qua human being, which is to say, why be concerned with


Hacker-Wright continues: “Our reasoning cannot ignore what we need as human beings and yet
still claim to exhibit practical rationality. Hence, Hursthouse can claim that as rational animals we
are freed from a certain kind of obedience to nature, while maintaining that nature has some
normative role for us; nature is normative over our reasoning, but not directly over our action.
When Foot states that human beings go for what we see as good rather than the good that we see,
she adds that what we see as good is inevitably informed by a conception of our form of life” ().
Regarding the relationship between nature and reason, Julia Annas makes a helpful distinction
between a weaker relation view that “holds that our four ends [as put forward by Hursthouse] that
we have as social animals form a robust constraint on the exercise of our rationality, and thus give it
a weaker ability to transform them than the stronger view holds,” whereas the stronger relation view
holds that “our human nature is simply the material that our rationality has to work with” in the
way of a skilled craftsperson (: , ). Annas affirms the latter view (see also Annas ). My
own view will come out in what follows.

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Another random document with
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adult. In the Lobata and Cestoidea there is, however, a definite larval
stage, of the general appearance of a Mertensia, and during this
stage fertile eggs and spermatozoa are formed and set free.

Distribution.—Ctenophora are found at the surface of nearly all

seas, and many of the genera have a cosmopolitan distribution.
Some of the Lobata, the Cestoidea, and the Platyctenea are more
commonly found in the warmer regions of the world. Pleurobrachia
pileus, Bolina infundibulum, Beroe ovata, and B. cucumis occur off
the British coast.

Most of the Ctenophora are from 5 to 20 mm. in diameter, but Beroe

reaches the length of 90 mm., Eucharis multicornis a height of 250
mm., and Cestus veneris has been found no less than 1½ metres
from one extremity to the other.

Ctenophores usually go about in shoals, and in the case of Beroe

cucumis and Eucharis multicornis the shoals may be of very great
extent. Pleurobrachia pileus of the British coasts is often found at the
end of the season (July) as a series of isolated individuals; but in
June they occur in small shoals, swimming so close together that
they will choke a tow-net in a very short space of time.

CLASS I. TENTACULATA
Ctenophora provided with a pair of tentacles in the larval stages only
or in both larval and adult stages.

Order I. Cydippidea.
This order includes a number of spherical or oval Ctenophores, with
a pair of tentacles retractile into deep tentacular pits in the adult
stage.
Fam. 1. Mertensiidae.—The body is compressed in the transverse
plane, and the ribs on the transverse areas are longer than those on
the sagittal areas. The family includes the genus Euchlora, which
occurs in the Mediterranean and in the northern part of the Atlantic
Ocean. In Charistephane there are only two enormous ctenophoral
plates in each of the longitudinal tracts. These plates are so broad
that they almost meet laterally to form two continuous circlets round
the body of the animal. This genus is found in the Mediterranean, but
a few specimens have also been obtained in the Atlantic.

In Tinerfe the body is almost cylindrical, and there is a pair of kidney-

shaped swellings at the sides of the aboral pole. It has a pale blue
colour, and is found in the Guinea and south equatorial currents of
the Atlantic Ocean.

The name Mertensia has been given to several forms that are
undoubtedly the young stages of genera belonging to the Lobata, but
Chun retains the name M. ovum for a species which is very
abundant in the Arctic currents of the North Atlantic.

Fam. 2. Callianiridae.—Two or four wing-like processes, into which

the longitudinal canals extend, are found at the aboral pole.
Callianira has two of these processes arranged in the transverse
plane, and Lophoctenia has four. Callianira is found in the
Mediterranean and in the Atlantic from the Arctic to the Antarctic
waters.

Fam. 3. Pleurobrachiidae.—The body is almost spherical in form,

and the eight ribs are equal in length.

This family includes the genus Pleurobrachia, in which the ribs

extend for a considerable distance along the lines of longitude of the
spherical body, but do not reach either the oral or the aboral areas.
P. pileus is the commonest British Ctenophore, and may be found in
shoals in May, June, and July at the surface of the sea or cast up on
the sand as the tide ebbs. It is widely distributed in the North Atlantic
waters. P. rhodopis of the Mediterranean has rather shorter ribs than
P. pileus. Two new species have recently been described from the
Malay Archipelago.[430] Hormiphora (Fig. 180, p. 413) differs from
Pleurobrachia in having much shorter ribs, and in possessing two
kinds of pinnae on the tentacles, those of the ordinary kind and
others much larger and sometimes palmate in character. This genus
has a world-wide distribution.

In Lampetia and Euplokamis the body is more cylindrical in shape

than it is in the other genera, but the ribs and subjacent longitudinal
canals extend up to the margin of the aboral field. Both these genera
occur in the Mediterranean, but Lampetia is also found in the Malay
Archipelago.

Order II. Lobata.

The body is considerably flattened in the transverse plane, and the
sagittal areas are extended into the form of two wide peristomial
lobes. The oral ends of the areas between the transverse and
sagittal ribs are extended to form four flaps, called the "auricles."
There are no tentacles nor tentacle-sheaths of the ordinary kind in
the adult form; but numerous tentilla, similar in some respects to the
pinnae of the tentacles of other Ctenophora, form a fringe round the
margin of the auricles and the peristome. A single pair of long,
filamentous, non-retractile tentacles arise from the sides of the
peristomium in Eucharis multicornis. These tentacles have no
sheaths, and do not bear pinnae. They are probably not homologous
with those of other Ctenophora.

The characters that separate the families of Lobata are chiefly those
of varying size, shape, and position of the peristomial lobes and
auricles. In the Lesueuriidae the peristomial lobes are rudimentary;
in the other families they are moderately or very large. In the
Bolinidae the auricles are short, but in most of the other families they
are long and ribbon-like. In Eucharis they can be spirally twisted in
repose.

The modifications of the external form seen in the Lobata are

accompanied by some modifications of the internal structure. Among
these, perhaps the most interesting is a communication between the
transverse longitudinal and the paragastric canals, and the long
convoluted tubes given off to the peristomial lobes by the sagittal
longitudinal canals. Very little is known about the life-history and
development of most of the Lobata, but Chun has shown that in
Eucharis and Bolina there is a Cydippiform larval stage which
produces ripe ova and spermatozoa. This is followed by a period of
sterility, but when the adult characters are developed they become
again sexually mature. To this series of sexual phenomena the name
"Dissogony" is given.

Fig. 181.—Ocyroe crystallina. Ab, aboral sense-organ; au, auricle; Can,

diverticulum from the paragastric canal passing into peristomial lobe; Ct,
costae; M, mouth; Par, paragastric canal passing outwards to join one of
the transverse subcostal canals; P.L, peristomial lobe; w, wart-like tubercles
on the lobe. (After Mayer.)

The order contains only fifteen genera, but they are usually arranged
in the following eight families:—

1. Lesueuriidae. Lesueuria.
2. Bolinidae. Bolina, Bolinopsis.
3. Deiopeidae. Deiopea.
4. Eurhamphaeidae. Eurhamphaea.
5. Eucharidae. Eucharis.
6. Mnemiidae. Mnemia, Mnemiopsis.
7. Calymmidae. Calymma.
8. Ocyroidae. Ocyroe.
Most of these Ctenophores occur in the warm and tropical seas; but
Bolina is found occasionally at Plymouth in the month of May, on the
west coast of Ireland, and at other stations on the British coasts.
Eucharis is regarded as one of the most beautiful of the Phylum. A
swarm, some miles in length, of large specimens of E. multicornis
was met by the Plankton Expedition in the south equatorial current of
the Atlantic during the month of September.

Order III. Cestoidea.

In this order the body is so much compressed in the transverse
plane and elongated in the sagittal plane that it assumes the shape
of a long narrow band or ribbon. The tentacular sheaths are present
but the tentacles are degenerate in the adult. The tentacular
functions are performed by numerous tentilla situated in long
grooves extending along the whole length of the oral side of the
band-like body. The transverse ribs are reduced; the sagittal ribs
extend along the whole of the aboral side.

Fam. Cestidae.—This is the only family of the order. Cestus veneris,

the Venus's girdle of the Mediterranean Sea, is also found in the
Atlantic Ocean, and specimens belonging to the same genus, but
probably to a different species, occur as far north as the White Sea.
Some of the larger specimens are considerably over 1 metre in
length.

Fig. 182.—Cestus pectenalis. Ab, aboral sense-organ; Ct, the sagittal ribs; M,
mouth. (After Bigelow.)
C. pectenalis was found in abundance off one of the Maldive Islands
[431] and differs from C. veneris in having a large and prominent
orange patch at each end of the body. It is said to be extremely
graceful in the water, moving with slow, ribbon-like undulations, and
shining in the sunlight with a violet iridescence. Vexillum, from the
Mediterranean Sea and Canary Islands, is rather more pointed at the
extremities than Cestus, and differs from it in some important
anatomical characters.

Order IV. Platyctenea.

This order has been constituted for two remarkable genera, in which
the oro-apical axis is so much reduced that distinct dorsal and
ventral surfaces can be distinguished.

There is a single pair of long milky-white tentacles capable of

complete retraction into tentacular sheaths.

Fam. 1. Ctenoplanidae.—Ctenoplana was discovered by Korotneff

in 1886 floating with the Plankton off the coast of Sumatra. In 1896
Willey [432] discovered four specimens on a cuttle-bone floating off
the coast of New Guinea. To these authors we are indebted for the
only accounts of this animal that have been published.

When the Ctenoplana is creeping on the bottom of a dish or with its

dorsal side downwards on the surface film of the water, it has the
form of a flattened disc with a notch on each side. On the upper or
dorsal surface eight short rows of ctenophoral plates may be seen,
and in a position corresponding with the two notches in the margin of
the body are situated the two sheaths from which the long pinnate
tentacles protrude. In the exact centre of the dorsal surface is
situated the statolith, supported by stiff processes from adjacent
cells; and forming a circlet round the statolith there is a row of short
ciliated tentacles. These tentacles, however, when examined
carefully in the living animal, are found to be arranged in two sets of
about nine in each, separated by narrow gaps on each side, the
gaps corresponding in position with the axis through the tentacles.

When the animal is swimming it assumes a helmet-shape by

depressing the sides of the body like a pair of flaps on the tentacular
axis, and then the ctenophoral plates come into play and produce
the progressive movements of the animals. The pinnate tentacles
are opaque white in colour, and have peculiar serpentine
movements. Very little is known at present concerning many details
of the internal anatomy, but there is one point of considerable
theoretical interest—namely, the presence of definite male genital
ducts.

Three of Dr. Willey's specimens were mottled with a green pigment,

whereas his fourth specimen and Korotneff's only specimen were
mottled with a red pigment. It has yet to be determined whether the
differences which have been observed in the individual specimens
are of specific value.

Fam. 2. Coeloplanidae.—Coeloplana was originally discovered by

Kowalevsky in the Red Sea, but has recently been found by Abbott
[433] on the coast of Japan.

Fig. 183.—Coeloplana mitsukurii, floating at the surface of the sea with the
dorsal side downwards. T, T, the tentacles expanded. (After Abbott.)

The Japanese species are found principally on encrusting Algae,

Zostera, Melobesia, etc., which they resemble very closely in colour.
The Red Sea species is, according to Kowalevsky, ciliated all over,
but the Japanese species are ciliated only on the ventral surface. As
in Ctenoplana, the body of Coeloplana is a flattened disc with a
notch at each end of the tentacular axis, when creeping; but
Coeloplana does not swim, nor at any time does it assume a helmet-
shape. The tentacles are very long and of a chalky-white colour.
They can be retracted into tentacle-sheaths. When the animal is
excited it throws out the whole tentacle in a cloud of white filaments,
"and to watch it at such a time, shooting out and retracting the
tentacles, moving along the side of the aquarium like a battleship in
action is truly a remarkable spectacle."[434] On the dorsal side of the
body there is a series of processes which are called the dorsal
tentacles. The statolith is very small, and is not surrounded by
sensory processes as it is in Ctenoplana. There are no ctenophoral
plates. The colours of the Japanese species are scarlet or carmine
red and dirty brown or brownish yellow. They are from 1 to 2
centimetres in diameter.

CLASS II. NUDA

Ctenophora without tentacles.

Fam. Beroidae.—Beroe, the only genus of this family and class,

differs from other Ctenophora in several important particulars. There
are no tentacles, and the stomodaeum is so large that the body-form
assumes that of a thimble with moderately thick walls. The
infundibulum is small. The paragastric and longitudinal canals give
rise to numerous ramifications which form a network distributed
throughout the surface of the body. The statolith is unprotected by a
dome, and the polar fields are bordered by a number of small
branching papillae. The eight ribs extend for nearly the whole length
of the body. Beroe is almost cosmopolitan, and is frequently found at
the surface of the sea in great numbers. B. ovata is found off the
Shetlands, Hebrides, and west coast of Ireland, but is rare on the
east coast of the British Islands and in the English Channel. At
Valencia it is common in August and September, and sometimes
reaches the great size of 90 mm. in length by 50 mm. in breadth. It is
usually of a pale pink colour.

Appendix to Ctenophora

Hydroctena salenskii has recently been discovered by Dawydoff[435]

floating with the Plankton off the island Saparua in the Malay
Archipelago. It is claimed to be a connecting link between the
Ctenophora and the Medusae of the Hydrozoa.

In external features it is like one of the Narcomedusae, having a

transparent jelly-like bell with a wide bell-mouth guarded by a velum
(Fig. 184, V). There are only two simple but solid tentacles (t),
provided with tentacle-sheaths, but inserted on opposite sides of the
bell—not on the margin, but, as in the Ctenophore, at a level not far
removed from the aboral pole. At the aboral pole there is a minute
pore surrounded by a high ciliated epithelium bearing an orange
pigment. This leads into a short blind canal, which terminates in an
ampulla bearing two statoliths supported by elastic processes from
the ampullar epithelium.

The sub-umbrellar cavity extends for a distance of about one-half the

height of the bell. The mouth (M), which opens into this cavity, leads
into a wide cavity that gives off a short blind canal to the side of each
tentacular sheath, and a straight tube that leads straight to the
statocyst, where it also ends blindly. There are no radial canals and
no ring canal at the margin of the umbrella. There are also no
ctenophoral plates. In the absence of any information concerning the
position of the genital glands, the character of the epithelium of the
tentacles and the development, we are not justified in regarding
Hydroctena either as a Ctenophore or as a connecting link between
the Ctenophora and the Hydromedusae. It may be regarded simply
as a Craspedote Medusa, probably related to the Narcomedusae,
with a remarkable aberrant aboral sense-organ.
Fig. 184.—Hydroctena salenskii. ab, Aboral organ; M, manubrium; t, tentacle; V,
velum. (After Dawydoff.)
 ECHINODERMATA

BY

E. W. MacBRIDE, M.A., FRS.

Formerly Fellow of St. John's College
Professor of Zoology in McGill University, Montreal.

CHAPTER XVI

ECHINODERMATA—INTRODUCTION—CLASSIFICATION—ANATOMY OF A
STARFISH—SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT OF ASTEROIDEA

The name Echinodermata[436] means literally "spiny-skinned," and

thus brings into prominence one very conspicuous feature of most of
the animals belonging to this phylum. All, it is true, do not possess
spines; but with one or two doubtful exceptions, all have calcareous
plates embedded in the skin, and these plates, in many cases, push
out projections which raise the skin into corresponding elevations,
which are called the spines. The spines are, like the other plates,
inside the skin, and to speak of an Echinoderm living in its shell, as
we speak of a Snail, is a serious error. The shell of a Mollusc is
fundamentally a secretion poured forth from the skin, and is thus
entirely external to the real living parts; but the plates and spines of
an Echinoderm may be compared to our own bones, which are
embedded deeply in the flesh. Hence the name ossicle (little bone) is
used to designate these organs.

Besides the possession of these spines, Echinoderms are

characterised by having their organisation pervaded by a
fundamental radial symmetry. The principal organs of the body are
repeated and are arranged like the spokes of a wheel round a
central axis instead of being, as, for example, in Chaetopoda,
arranged behind one another in longitudinal series.

In addition to these striking peculiarities, Echinoderms possess a

most interesting internal organisation, being in this respect almost
exactly intermediate between the Coelenterata and the higher
Invertebrata. Like so many of the latter, the Echinodermata have an
anus, that is, a second opening to the alimentary canal through
which indigestible material is rejected; like them also, they have a
body-cavity or coelom surrounding the alimentary canal—from the
lining of which the genital cells are developed. On the other hand,
there is no definite circulatory system, nor any specialised excretory
organ, and the nervous system exhibits no concentration which
could be called a brain, and is, moreover, in close connexion with the
skin. In all these points the Echinodermata resemble the
Coelenterata.

One of the most characteristic features of the internal anatomy of

Echinodermata is the presence of a peculiar series of organs, known
collectively as the water-vascular system or hydrocoel. This is really
a special division of the coelom or body-cavity which takes on the
form of a ring-shaped canal embracing the mouth, from which are
given off long radial canals, usually five in number, running to the
more peripheral parts of the body.[437] Each radial canal carries a
double series of lateral branches, which push out the skin so as to
appear as appendages of the body. These appendages are known
as tentacles or tube-feet; they are both sensory and respiratory in
function, and often in addition, as the name tube-foot indicates,
assist in locomotion. As a general term for these appendages, to be
applied in all cases without reference to their function, the name
podium has been suggested and will be employed here. A system
of canals, in many ways resembling the water-vascular system, is
found in Brachiopoda, Gephyrea and Polyzoa, but the peculiarity of
Echinodermata is the way in which it is kept filled with fluid. From the
ring-canal in the interval (or interradius) between two radial canals,
a vertical canal, termed the stone-canal, is given off, which
communicates with the exterior by means of a sieve-like plate, the
madreporite, pierced by fine canals. These canals and the stone-
canal itself are lined with powerful cilia, which produce a strong
inward current, and keep the water-vascular system tensely filled
with sea water.

The phylum includes the familiar Starfish and Sea-urchins, which in

sheltered spots are found between tide-marks; the Brittle Stars and
Sea-cucumbers, which can be dredged up from below low-water
mark, and lastly the beautiful Feather-stars, of which there are
comparatively few species still living, although huge beds of
limestone are composed of the remains of fossil Feather-stars.

One species of Sea-cucumber (Synapta similis)[438] is said to enter

brackish water in the mangrove swamps of the tropics; but, with this
exception, the whole phylum is marine. A few species can endure
partial exposure to the air when left bare by the receding tide, but the
overwhelming majority are only found beneath low-water mark, and
a considerable number live in the deepest recesses of the ocean.

Their distribution is, no doubt, partly determined by food, a number

of species being strictly confined to the neighbourhood of the shore.
On the other hand, since a very large number of species live on the
layer of mud impregnated with animal remains which forms the
superficial layer of the deposit covering the sea-floor, it is not
surprising to learn that many have an exceedingly wide range, since
this deposit is very widely distributed. Another equally important
factor in determining distribution is wave-disturbance, and it is
surprising to learn to what a depth this extends. Off the west coast of
Ireland a large wave literally breaks on a submerged rock 15
fathoms beneath the surface. Speaking generally, it is useless to
look for Echinoderms on an exposed coast, and the same species,
which in the sheltered waters of the Clyde are exposed at low water,
must be dredged up from 20 to 30 fathoms outside Plymouth Sound.
The ordinary collector is attracted to the group chiefly by the
regularity and beauty of the patterns produced by the radial
symmetry, but to the scientific zoologist they are interesting from
many other points of view. Differing widely nevertheless from the
higher Invertebrata in their symmetry when adult, they have as
larvae a marked bilateral symmetry, and the secondary development
of the radial symmetry constitutes one of the most remarkable life-
histories known in the animal kingdom.

Then again, owing to the possession of ossicles, the Echinodermata

are one of the few groups of Invertebrata of which abundant remains
occur fossilised. In attempting, therefore, to decipher the past history
of life from the fossil record, it is necessary to have an exact and
detailed knowledge of Echinoderm skeletons and their relation to the
soft parts. Lastly, the internal organisation of Echinoderms throws
valuable light on the origin of the complicated systems of organs
found in the higher animals.

Echinodermata are divided into two great sub-phyla, which must

have very early diverged from one another. These are:—

(1) Eleutherozoa,
(2) Pelmatozoa.[439]
The sub-phylum Pelmatozoa, to which the living Feather-stars
(Crinoidea) and the majority of the known fossil species belong, is
characterised by the possession of a fixing organ placed in the
centre of the surface opposite the mouth—the aboral surface as it is
called. Ordinarily this organ takes on the form of a jointed stalk, but
in most modern species it is a little knob with a tuft of rooting
processes, termed cirri. In the other sub-phylum, the Eleutherozoa,
no such organ is found, and the animals wander about freely during
their adult life, though for a brief period of their larval existence they
may be fixed by a stalk-like protuberance arising from the oral
surface.
 SUB-PHYLUM I. ELEUTHEROZOA
The Eleutherozoa are divided into four main classes, between
which no intermediate forms are found amongst the living species,
though intermediate types have been found fossil.

The four classes into which the Eleutherozoa are divided are defined
as follows:—

(1) Asteroidea (Starfish).—"Star"-shaped or pentagonal

Eleutherozoa with five or more triangular arms, not sharply marked
off from the central disc. The mouth is in the centre of one surface,
called from this circumstance the "oral"; the anus is in the centre of
the opposite surface, termed the "aboral." From the mouth a groove
runs out on the under surface of each arm towards its tip, termed the
"ambulacral" groove. Projecting from the ambulacral groove are
found the podia or tube-feet, the organs of movement and sensation
of the animal.

(2) Ophiuroidea (Brittle Stars).—Eleutherozoa, in which the body

consists of a round disc with long worm-like arms inserted in grooves
on its under surface. No anus is present, and the ambulacral
grooves are represented by closed canals. The podia are merely
sensory and respiratory, locomotion being effected by muscular jerks
of the arms.

(3) Echinoidea (Sea-urchins).—Globular or disc-shaped

Eleutherozoa, in which the skeleton forms a compact cuirass except
for a short distance round the mouth (peristome) and round the anus
(periproct). The ambulacral grooves are represented by canals
which, like meridians of longitude on a school-globe, run from the
neighbourhood of the mouth to near the aboral pole of the body. The
spines are large and movably articulated with the plates. The
animals move by means of podia and spines, or by means of the
latter only. The anus is usually situated at the aboral pole, but is
sometimes displaced towards the side, or even on to the ventral
surface.

(4) Holothuroidea (Sea-cucumbers).—Sausage-shaped

Eleutherozoa, in which the skeleton is represented only by isolated
nodules of calcium carbonate, and in which the body-wall is highly
muscular. The mouth and anus are situated at opposite ends of the
body, and the ambulacral grooves (represented by closed canals)
run from near the mouth to the proximity of the anus. Movement is
accomplished by means of the podia, aided by worm-like
contractions of the body.

CLASS I. ASTEROIDEA[440] (Starfish)

The Starfish derive their name from their resemblance in shape to
the conventional image of a star. The body consists of broad
triangular arms (generally five in number) which coalesce in the
centre to form a disc. The skin is soft and semi-transparent,
permitting the skeleton to be easily detected; this consists of a mesh-
work of rods or plates, leaving between them intervals of soft skin. In
a living Starfish it can be seen that many of these soft places are
raised up into finger-like outgrowths, which are termed "papulae" or
"dermal gills," through the thin walls of which an active interchange
of gases with the surrounding water takes place, and the animal
obtains in this way the oxygen necessary for its respiration.

Very few and feeble muscle-fibres exist in the body-wall, and the
movements of the arms, as a whole, are very slow and limited in
range. There is a membranous lip surrounding the mouth, from
which five broad grooves run outwards, one on the underside of
each arm. These are termed the "ambulacral grooves." Each groove
is Λ-shaped, and its sides are stiffened by a series of rod-like
ossicles called the "ambulacral ossicles."
The animal progresses by the aid of a large number of translucent
tentacles, termed "tube-feet" or "podia," which are attached to the
walls of the ambulacral grooves.

Anatomy of a Starfish.—As an introduction to the study of the

anatomy not only of Starfish but of Echinodermata as a whole, we
select Asterias rubens, the common Starfish of the British coasts,
which in many places may be found on the beach near low-water
mark.

External Features.—In this species (Fig. 185) the skeleton is a net-

work of rod-like plates, leaving wide meshes between them, through
which protrude a perfect forest of transparent papulae. From the
points of junction of the rods arise short blunt spines surrounded by
thick cushions of skin. The surfaces of these cushions are covered
with a multitude of whitish specks, which, on closer inspection, are
seen to have the form of minute pincers, each consisting of two
movable blades crossing each other below and articulated to a basal
piece. These peculiar organs are termed "pedicellariae" (Fig. 186),
and their function is to keep the animal clean by seizing hold of any
minute organisms which would attempt to settle on the soft and
delicate skin. When irritated the blades open and then snap together
violently, and remain closed for a long time.[441] These actions are
brought about by appropriate muscles attaching the blades to the
basal piece.
 Fig. 185.—Asterias rubens, seen from the aboral surface, × 1. mad, Madreporite.

The last-named ossicle increases the certainty of the grip by fixing

the lower parts of each blade in the same vertical plane, and
preventing lateral slipping, so that it serves the same purpose as the
pivot in a pair of scissors. Each blade, in fact, fits into a groove on
the side of this piece. The muscles which close the blades arise from
the lower ends (handles) of the blades, and are united below to form
a common muscular string which attaches the whole organ to one of
the plates of the skeleton. An attempt of the victim to tear the
pedicellaria out is resisted by the contraction of this string, which
thus brings about a closer grip of the blades. In order that the blades
may open they must first be lifted out of the grooves on the basal
piece—this is effected by special lifting muscles. The opening is
brought about by muscles extending from the "handle" of one blade
to the upper part of the other.

Scattered about amongst the papulae between the cushions are

other pedicellariae of a larger size in which the blades do not cross
one another (Fig. 186, B).

In the space or "interradius" between two arms, on the aboral

surface, there is found a button-shaped ossicle. This is covered with
fine grooves, and from a fancied resemblance between it and some
forms of coral it has received the name "madreporite" (Fig. 185,
mad). The bottoms of the grooves are perforated by capillary canals
lined by flagella, through the action of which water is constantly
being introduced into the water-vascular system.

The anus is situated near the centre of the upper surface of the disc,
but it is so minute as to require careful inspection in order to discover
its position (Fig. 185).

Fig. 186.—View of pedicellariae of A. glacialis. A, Crossed form, × 100. 1,

Ectoderm covering the whole organ; 2, basal piece; 3, auxiliary muscle
closing the blades; 4, muscle lifting right blade out of the groove; 5, handle
of left blade; 6, muscles closing the blades, and uniting to form 7, the
muscular string attaching the pedicellaria to the skeleton. B, straight form, ×
10. 1, Basal piece; 2, blades; 3 and 4, muscles closing the blades; 5,
muscle opening the blades. (From Cuénot.)

On the under side of the animal the most conspicuous features are
the five ambulacral grooves which radiate out from the "peristome," a
thin membranous area surrounding the central mouth. The grooves
are filled with the tube-feet, which are closely crowded together and
apparently arranged in four rows.

Skeleton.—The sides of the ambulacral grooves are stiffened by the

rod-like "ambulacral ossicles." To the outer ends of these are
articulated a set of shorter rods termed the "adambulacral ossicles"
which carry each two or three rod-like spines, the "adambulacral
spines," the skin covering which bears numerous pedicellariae (Fig.
187, B). When the animal is irritated the edges of the groove are
brought together, and these spines then form a trellis-work covering
and protecting the delicate tube-feet; the numerous pedicellariae are
then in a position to make it unpleasant for any intruder. The closure
of the groove is effected by means of powerful muscles connecting
each ambulacral ossicle with its fellow. There are also feebler
muscles connecting these plates with their successors and
predecessors, which enable the arm to be bent downwards in a
vertical plane. It is raised by a muscular band running along the
dorsal wall of the coelom to the point of the arm.

Fig. 187.—A, Asterias rubens, seen from the oral surface, drawn from a living
specimen, × 1. B, an adambulacral spine, showing three straight
pedicellariae; C, a tube-foot expanded and contracted.

When the series of ambulacral and adambulacral ossicles is followed

inwards towards the mouth it is seen that the first ambulacral ossicle
is closely fixed to the second, but is widely separated from its fellow,
remaining, however, connected with the latter by a powerful adductor
muscle. In consequence of the separation of this pair of ossicles
each is brought into closer contact with the corresponding ossicle in
the adjacent radius, to which it is connected by a muscle called the
abductor. The first adambulacrals in adjacent radii are also brought
into closer contact and carry long spines which, when the ambulacral
grooves are contracted, project like a grating over the mouth. In the