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diff --git a/17239.txt b/17239.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..afc4d21 --- /dev/null +++ b/17239.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2355 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Destiny of Man, by John Fiske + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Destiny of Man + Viewed in the Light of His Origin + +Author: John Fiske + +Release Date: December 6, 2005 [EBook #17239] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DESTINY OF MAN *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE DESTINY OF MAN + +VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF HIS ORIGIN + + +BY + + +JOHN FISKE + + + +TWENTIETH EDITION. + + +BOSTON + +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + +1893 + + + +Copyright, 1884, + +BY JOHN FISKE. + + + + +TO + +MY CHILDREN, + +MAUD, HAROLD, CLARENCE, RALPH, ETHEL, AND HERBERT, + +This Essay + +_IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Having been invited to give an address before the Concord School of +Philosophy this summer, upon some subject relating to the question of +immortality there under discussion, it seemed a proper occasion for +putting together the following thoughts on the origin of Man and his +place in the universe. In dealing with the unknown, it is well to take +one's start a long way within the limits of the known. The question of a +future life is generally regarded as lying outside the range of +legitimate scientific discussion. Yet while fully admitting this, one +does not necessarily admit that the subject is one with regard to which +we are forever debarred from entertaining an opinion. Now our opinions +on such transcendental questions must necessarily be affected by the +total mass of our opinions on the questions which lie within the scope +of scientific inquiry; and from this point of view it becomes of +surpassing interest to trace the career of Humanity within that segment +of the universe which is accessible to us. The teachings of the doctrine +of evolution as to the origin and destiny of Man have, moreover, a very +great speculative and practical value of their own, quite apart from +their bearings upon any ultimate questions. The body of this essay is +accordingly devoted to setting forth these teachings in what I conceive +to be their true light; while their transcendental implications are +reserved for the sequel. + +As the essay contains an epitome of my own original contributions to the +doctrine of evolution, I have added at the end a short list of +references to other works of mine, where the points here briefly +mentioned are more fully argued and illustrated. The views regarding the +progress of human society, and the elimination of warfare, are set forth +at greater length in a little book now in the press, and soon to appear, +entitled "American Political Ideas." + +PETERSHAM, September 6, 1884. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. Man's Place in Nature as affected by the Copernican Theory. + II. As affected by Darwinism. + III. On the Earth there will never be a Higher Creature than Man. + IV. The Origin of Infancy. + V. The Dawning of Consciousness. + VI. Lengthening of Infancy and Concomitant Increase of Brain-Surface. + VII. Change in the Direction of the Working of Natural Selection. + VIII. Growing Predominance of the Psychical Life. + IX. The Origins of Society and of Morality. + X. Improvableness of Man. + XI. Universal Warfare of Primeval Men. + XII. First checked by the Beginnings of Industrial Civilisation. + XIII. Methods of Political Development, and Elimination of Warfare. + XIV. End of the Working of Natural Selection upon Man. Throwing off + the Brute-Inheritance. + XV. The Message of Christianity. + XVI. The Question as to a Future Life. + + + + +THE DESTINY OF MAN. + + + + +I. + +Man's Place in Nature, as affected by the Copernican Theory. + + +When we study the Divine Comedy of Dante--that wonderful book wherein +all the knowledge and speculation, all the sorrows and yearnings, of the +far-off Middle Ages are enshrined in the glory of imperishable verse--we +are brought face to face with a theory of the world and with ways of +reasoning about the facts of nature which seem strange to us to-day, but +from the influence of which we are not yet, and doubtless never shall +be, wholly freed. A cosmology grotesque enough in the light of later +knowledge, yet wrought out no less carefully than the physical theories +of Lucretius, is employed in the service of a theology cumbrous in its +obsolete details, but resting upon fundamental truths which mankind can +never safely lose sight of. In the view of Dante and of that phase of +human culture which found in him its clearest and sweetest voice, this +earth, the fair home of man, was placed in the centre of a universe +wherein all things were ordained for his sole behoof: the sun to give +him light and warmth, the stars in their courses to preside over his +strangely checkered destinies, the winds to blow, the floods to rise, or +the fiend of pestilence to stalk abroad over the land,--all for the +blessing, or the warning, or the chiding, of the chief among God's +creatures, Man. Upon some such conception as this, indeed, all theology +would seem naturally to rest. Once dethrone Humanity, regard it as a +mere local incident in an endless and aimless series of cosmical +changes, and you arrive at a doctrine which, under whatever specious +name it may be veiled, is at bottom neither more nor less than Atheism. +On its metaphysical side Atheism is the denial of anything psychical in +the universe outside of human consciousness; and it is almost +inseparably associated with the materialistic interpretation of human +consciousness as the ephemeral result of a fleeting collocation of +particles of matter. Viewed upon this side, it is easy to show that +Atheism is very bad metaphysics, while the materialism which goes with +it is utterly condemned by modern science.[1] But our feeling toward +Atheism goes much deeper than the mere recognition of it as +philosophically untrue. The mood in which we condemn it is not at all +like the mood in which we reject the corpuscular theory of light or Sir +G.C. Lewis's vagaries on the subject of Egyptian hieroglyphics. We are +wont to look upon Atheism with unspeakable horror and loathing. Our +moral sense revolts against it no less than our intelligence; and this +is because, on its practical side, Atheism would remove Humanity from +its peculiar position in the world, and make it cast in its lot with the +grass that withers and the beasts that perish; and thus the rich and +varied life of the universe, in all the ages of its wondrous duration, +becomes deprived of any such element of purpose as can make it +intelligible to us or appeal to our moral sympathies and religious +aspirations. + +And yet the first result of some of the grandest and most irrefragable +truths of modern science, when newly discovered and dimly comprehended, +has been to make it appear that Humanity must be rudely unseated from +its throne in the world and made to occupy an utterly subordinate and +trivial position; and it is because of this mistaken view of their +import that the Church has so often and so bitterly opposed the teaching +of such truths. With the advent of the Copernican astronomy the +funnel-shaped Inferno, the steep mountain of Purgatory crowned with its +terrestrial paradise, and those concentric spheres of Heaven wherein +beatified saints held weird and subtle converse, all went their way to +the limbo prepared for the childlike fancies of untaught minds, whither +Hades and Valhalla had gone before them. In our day it is hard to +realize the startling effect of the discovery that Man does not dwell at +the centre of things, but is the denizen of an obscure and tiny speck of +cosmical matter quite invisible amid the innumerable throng of flaming +suns that make up our galaxy. To the contemporaries of Copernicus the +new theory seemed to strike at the very foundations of Christian +theology. In a universe where so much had been made without discernible +reference to Man, what became of that elaborate scheme of salvation +which seemed to rest upon the assumption that the career of Humanity was +the sole object of God's creative forethought and fostering care? When +we bear this in mind, we see how natural and inevitable it was that the +Church should persecute such men as Galileo and Bruno. At the same time +it is instructive to observe that, while the Copernican astronomy has +become firmly established in spite of priestly opposition, the +foundations of Christian theology have not been shaken thereby. It is +not that the question which once so sorely puzzled men has ever been +settled, but that it has been outgrown. The speculative necessity for +man's occupying the largest and most central spot in the universe is no +longer felt. It is recognized as a primitive and childish notion. With +our larger knowledge we see that these vast and fiery suns are after all +but the Titan like _servants_ of the little planets which they bear with +them in their flight through the abysses of space. Out from the awful +gaseous turmoil of the central mass dart those ceaseless waves of gentle +radiance that, when caught upon the surface of whirling worlds like +ours, bring forth the endlessly varied forms and the endlessly complex +movements that make up what we can see of life. And as when God revealed +himself to his ancient prophet He came not in the earthquake or the +tempest but in a voice that was still and small, so that divine spark +the Soul, as it takes up its brief abode in this realm of fleeting +phenomena, chooses not the central sun where elemental forces forever +blaze and clash, but selects an outlying terrestrial nook where seeds +may germinate in silence, and where through slow fruition the mysterious +forms of organic life may come to take shape and thrive. He who thus +looks a little deeper into the secrets of nature than his forefathers of +the sixteenth century may well smile at the quaint conceit that man +cannot be the object of God's care unless he occupies an immovable +position in the centre of the stellar universe. + + + + +II. + +Man's Place in Nature, as affected by Darwinism. + + +When the Copernican astronomy was finally established through the +discoveries of Kepler and Newton, it might well have been pronounced the +greatest scientific achievement of the human mind; but it was still more +than that. It was the greatest revolution that had ever been effected in +Man's views of his relations to the universe in which he lives, and of +which he is--at least during the present life--a part. During the +nineteenth century, however, a still greater revolution has been +effected. Not only has Lyell enlarged our mental horizon in time as much +as Newton enlarged it in space, but it appears that throughout these +vast stretches of time and space with which we have been made acquainted +there are sundry well-marked changes going on. Certain definite paths of +development are being pursued; and around us on every side we behold +worlds, organisms, and societies in divers stages of progress or +decline. Still more, as we examine the records of past life upon our +globe, and study the mutual relations of the living things that still +remain, it appears that the higher forms of life--including Man +himself--are the modified descendants of lower forms. Zooelogically +speaking, Man can no longer be regarded as a creature apart by himself. +We cannot erect an order on purpose to contain him, as Cuvier tried to +do; we cannot even make a separate family for him. Man is not only a +vertebrate, a mammal, and a primate, but he belongs, as a genus, to the +catarrhine family of apes. And just as lions, leopards, and +lynxes--different genera of the cat-family--are descended from a common +stock of carnivora, back to which we may also trace the pedigrees of +dogs, hyaenas, bears, and seals; so the various genera of platyrrhine and +catarrhine apes, including Man, are doubtless descended from a common +stock of primates, back to which we may also trace the converging +pedigrees of monkeys and lemurs, until their ancestry becomes +indistinguishable from that of rabbits and squirrels. Such is the +conclusion to which the scientific world has come within a quarter of a +century from the publication of Mr. Darwin's "Origin of Species;" and +there is no more reason for supposing that this conclusion will ever be +gainsaid than for supposing that the Copernican astronomy will some time +be overthrown and the concentric spheres of Dante's heaven reinstated in +the minds of men. + +It is not strange that this theory of man's origin, which we associate +mainly with the name of Mr. Darwin, should be to many people very +unwelcome. It is fast bringing about a still greater revolution in +thought than that which was heralded by Copernicus; and it naturally +takes some time for the various portions of one's theory of things to +become adjusted, one after another, to so vast and sweeping a change. +From many quarters the cry goes up,--If this be true, then Man is at +length cast down from his high position in the world. "I will not be +called a mammal, or the son of a mammal!" once exclaimed an acquaintance +of mine who perhaps had been brought up by hand. Such expressions of +feeling are crude, but the feeling is not unjustifiable. It is urged +that if man is physically akin to a baboon, as pigs are akin to horses, +and cows to deer, then Humanity can in nowise be regarded as occupying a +peculiar place in the universe; it becomes a mere incident in an endless +series of changes, and how can we say that the same process of evolution +that has produced mankind may not by and by produce something far more +perfect? There was a time when huge bird-like reptiles were the lords of +creation, and after these had been "sealed within the iron hills" there +came successive dynasties of mammals; and as the iguanodon gave place to +the great Eocene marsupials, as the mastodon and the sabre-toothed lion +have long since vanished from the scene, so may not Man by and by +disappear to make way for some higher creature, and so on forever? In +such case, why should we regard Man as in any higher sense the object of +Divine care than a pig? Still stronger does the case appear when we +remember that those countless adaptations of means to ends in nature, +which since the time of Voltaire and Paley we have been accustomed to +cite as evidences of creative design, have received at the hands of Mr. +Darwin a very different interpretation. The lobster's powerful claw, the +butterfly's gorgeous tints, the rose's delicious fragrance, the +architectural instinct of the bee, the astonishing structure of the +orchid, are no longer explained as the results of contrivance. That +simple but wasteful process of survival of the fittest, through which +such marvellous things have come into being, has little about it that is +analogous to the ingenuity of human art. The infinite and eternal Power +which is thus revealed in the physical life of the universe seems in +nowise akin to the human soul. The idea of beneficent purpose seems for +the moment to be excluded from nature, and a blind process, known as +Natural Selection, is the deity that slumbers not nor sleeps. Reckless +of good and evil, it brings forth at once the mother's tender love for +her infant and the horrible teeth of the ravening shark, and to its +creative indifference the one is as good as the other. + +In spite of these appalling arguments the man of science, urged by the +single-hearted purpose to ascertain the truth, be the consequences what +they may, goes quietly on and finds that the terrible theory must be +adopted; the fact of man's consanguinity with dumb beasts must be +admitted. In reaching this conclusion, the man of science reasons upon +the physical facts within his reach, applying to them the same +principles of common-sense whereby our everyday lives are successfully +guided; and he is very apt to smile at the methods of those people who, +taking hold of the question at the wrong end, begin by arguing about all +manner of fancied consequences. For his knowledge of the history of +human thinking assures him that such methods have through all past time +proved barren of aught save strife, while his own bold yet humble method +is the only one through which truth has ever been elicited. To pursue +unflinchingly the methods of science requires dauntless courage and a +faith that nothing can shake. Such courage and such loyalty to nature +brings its own reward. For when once the formidable theory is really +understood, when once its implications are properly unfolded, it is seen +to have no such logical consequences as were at first ascribed to it. As +with the Copernican astronomy, so with the Darwinian biology, we rise to +a higher view of the workings of God and of the nature of Man than was +ever attainable before. So far from degrading Humanity, or putting it on +a level with the animal world in general, the Darwinian theory shows us +distinctly for the first time how the creation and the perfecting of Man +is the goal toward which Nature's work has all the while been tending. +It enlarges tenfold the significance of human life, places it upon even +a loftier eminence than poets or prophets have imagined, and makes it +seem more than ever the chief object of that creative activity which is +manifested in the physical universe. + + + + +III. + +On the Earth there will never be a Higher Creature than Man. + + +In elucidating these points, we may fitly begin by considering the +question as to the possibility of the evolution of any higher creature +than Man, to whom the dominion over this earth shall pass. The question +will best be answered by turning back and observing one of the most +remarkable features connected with the origin of Man and with his +superiority over other animals. And let it be borne in mind that we are +not now about to wander through the regions of unconditional +possibility. We are not dealing with vague general notions of +development, but with the scientific Darwinian theory, which alleges +development only as the result of certain rigorously defined agencies. +The chief among these agencies is Natural Selection. It has again and +again been illustrated how by the cumulative selection and inheritance +of slight physical variations generic differences, like those between +the tiger and the leopard, or the cow and the antelope, at length arise; +and the guiding principle in the accumulation of slight physical +differences has been the welfare of the species. The variant forms on +either side have survived while the constant forms have perished, so +that the lines of demarcation between allied species have grown more and +more distinct, and it is usually only by going back to fossil ages that +we can supply the missing links of continuity. In the desperate struggle +for existence no peculiarity, physical or psychical, however slight, has +been too insignificant for natural selection to seize and enhance; and +the myriad fantastic forms and hues of animal and vegetal life +illustrate the seeming capriciousness of its workings. Psychical +variations have never been unimportant since the appearance of the first +faint pigment-spot which by and by was to translate touch into vision, +as it developed into the lenses and humours of the eye.[2] Special +organs of sense and the lower grades of perception and judgment were +slowly developed through countless ages, in company with purely physical +variations of shape of foot, or length of neck, or complexity of +stomach, or thickness of hide. At length there came a wonderful +moment--silent and unnoticed, as are the beginnings of all great +revolutions. Silent and unnoticed, even as the day of the Lord which +cometh like a thief in the night, there arrived that wonderful moment at +which psychical changes began to be of more use than physical changes to +the brute ancestor of Man. Through further ages of ceaseless struggle +the profitable variations in this creature occurred oftener and oftener +in the brain, and less often in other parts of the organism, until by +and by the size of his brain had been doubled and its complexity of +structure increased a thousand-fold, while in other respects his +appearance was not so very different from that of his brother apes.[3] +Along with this growth of the brain, the complete assumption of the +upright posture, enabling the hands to be devoted entirely to prehension +and thus relieving the jaws of that part of their work, has cooeperated +in producing that peculiar contour of head and face which is the chief +distinguishing mark of physical Man. These slight anatomical changes +derive their importance entirely from the prodigious intellectual +changes in connection with which they have been produced; and these +intellectual changes have been accumulated until the distance, +psychically speaking, between civilized man and the ape is so great as +to dwarf in comparison all that had been achieved in the process of +evolution down to the time of our half-human ancestor's first +appearance. No fact in nature is fraught with deeper meaning than this +two-sided fact of the extreme physical similarity and enormous psychical +divergence between Man and the group of animals to which he traces his +pedigree. It shows that when Humanity began to be evolved an entirely +new chapter in the history of the universe was opened. Henceforth the +life of the nascent soul came to be first in importance, and the bodily +life became subordinated to it. Henceforth it appeared that, in this +direction at least, the process of zooelogical change had come to an end, +and a process of psychological change was to take its place. Henceforth +along this supreme line of generation there was to be no further +evolution of new species through physical variation, but through the +accumulation of psychical variations one particular species was to be +indefinitely perfected and raised to a totally different plane from that +on which all life had hitherto existed. Henceforth, in short, the +dominant aspect of evolution was to be not the genesis of species, but +the progress of Civilization. + +As we thoroughly grasp the meaning of all this, we see that upon the +Darwinian theory it is impossible that any creature zoologically +distinct from Man and superior to him should ever at any future time +exist upon the earth. In the regions of unconditional possibility it is +open to any one to argue, if he chooses, that such a creature may come +to exist; but the Darwinian theory is utterly opposed to any such +conclusion. According to Darwinism, the creation of Man is still the +goal toward which Nature tended from the beginning. Not the production +of any higher creature, but the perfecting of Humanity, is to be the +glorious consummation of Nature's long and tedious work. Thus we +suddenly arrive at the conclusion that Man seems now, much more clearly +than ever, the chief among God's creatures. On the primitive barbaric +theory, which Mr. Darwin has swept away, Man was suddenly flung into the +world by the miraculous act of some unseen and incalculable Power acting +from without; and whatever theology might suppose, no scientific reason +could be alleged why the same incalculable Power might not at some +future moment, by a similar miracle, thrust upon the scene some mightier +creature in whose presence Man would become like a sorry beast of +burden. But he who has mastered the Darwinian theory, he who recognizes +the slow and subtle process of evolution as the way in which God makes +things come to pass, must take afar higher view. He sees that in the +deadly struggle for existence which has raged throughout countless aeons +of time, the whole creation has been groaning and travailing together in +order to bring forth that last consummate specimen of God's handiwork, +the Human Soul. + +To the creature thus produced through a change in the direction in which +natural selection has worked, the earth and most of its living things +have become gradually subordinated. In all the classes of the animal and +vegetal worlds many ancient species have become extinct, and many modern +species have come into being, through the unchecked working of natural +selection, since Man became distinctively human. But in this respect a +change has long been coming over the face of nature. The destinies of +all other living things are more and more dependent upon the will of +Man. It rests with him to determine, to a great degree, what plants and +animals shall remain upon the earth and what shall be swept from its +surface. By unconsciously imitating the selective processes of Nature, +he long ago wrought many wild species into forms subservient to his +needs. He has created new varieties of fruit and flower and cereal +grass, and has reared new breeds of animals to aid him in the work of +civilization; until at length he is beginning to acquire a mastery over +mechanical and molecular and chemical forces which is doubtless destined +in the future to achieve marvellous results whereof today we little +dream. Natural selection itself will by and by occupy a subordinate +place in comparison with selection by Man, whose appearance on the earth +is thus seen more clearly than ever to have opened an entirely new +chapter in the mysterious history of creation. + + + + +IV. + +The Origin of Infancy. + + +But before we can fully understand the exalted position which the +Darwinian theory assigns to man, another point demands consideration. +The natural selection of psychical peculiarities does not alone account +for the origin of Man, or explain his most signal difference from all +other animals. That difference is unquestionably a difference in kind, +but in saying this one must guard against misunderstanding. Not only in +the world of organic life, but throughout the known universe, the +doctrine of evolution regards differences in kind as due to the gradual +accumulation of differences in degree. To cite a very simple case, what +differences of kind can be more striking than the differences between a +nebula, a sun, a planet like the earth, and a planet like our moon? Yet +these things are simply examples of cosmical matter at four different +stages of cooling. The physical differences between steam, water, and +ice afford a more familiar example. In the organic world the perpetual +modification of structures that has been effected through natural +selection exhibits countless instances of differences in kind which have +risen from the accumulation of differences in degree. No one would +hesitate to call a horse's hoof different in kind from a cat's paw; and +yet the horse's lower leg and hoof are undoubtedly developed from a +five-toed paw. The most signal differences in kind are wont to arise +when organs originally developed for a certain purpose come to be +applied to a very different purpose, as that change of the fish's +air-bladder into a lung which accompanied the first development of land +vertebrates. But still greater becomes the revolution when a certain +process goes on Until it sets going a number of other processes, +unlocking series after series of causal agencies until a vast and +complicated result is reached, such as could by no possibility have been +foreseen. The creation of Man was one of these vast and complicated +results due to the unlocking of various series of causal agencies; and +it was the beginning of a deeper and mightier difference in kind than +any that slowly evolving Nature had yet witnessed. + +I have indicated, as the moment at which the creation of mankind began, +the moment when psychical variations became of so much more use to our +ancestors than physical variations that they were seized and enhanced by +natural selection, to the comparative neglect of the latter. Increase of +intellectual capacity, in connection with the developing brain of a +single race of creatures, now became the chief work of natural selection +in originating Man; and this, I say, was the opening of a new chapter, +the last and most wonderful chapter, in the history of creation. But the +increasing intelligence and enlarged experience of half-human man now +set in motion a new series of changes which greatly complicated the +matter. In order to understand these changes, we must consider for a +moment one very important characteristic of developing intelligence. + +The simplest actions in which the nervous system is concerned are what +we call reflex actions. All the visceral actions which keep us alive +from moment to moment, the movements of the heart and lungs, the +contractions of arteries, the secretions of glands, the digestive +operations of the stomach and liver, belong to the class of reflex +actions. Throughout the animal world these acts are repeated, with +little or no variation, from birth until death, and the tendency to +perform them is completely organized in the nervous system before birth. +Every animal breathes and digests as well at the beginning of his life +as he ever does. Contact with air and food is all that is needed, and +there is nothing to be learned. These actions, though they are performed +by the nervous system, we do not class as psychical, because they are +nearly or quite unattended by consciousness. The psychical life of the +lowest animals consists of a few simple acts directed toward the +securing of food and the avoidance of danger, and these acts we are in +the habit of classing as instinctive. They are so simple, so few, and so +often repeated, that the tendency to perform them is completely +organized in the nervous system before birth. The animal takes care of +himself as soon as he begins to live. He has nothing to learn, and his +career is a simple repetition of the careers of countless ancestors. +With him heredity is everything, and his individual experience is next +to nothing. + +As we ascend the animal scale till we come to the higher birds and +mammals, we find a very interesting and remarkable change beginning. The +general increase of intelligence involves an increasing variety and +complication of experiences. The acts which the animal performs in the +course of its life become far more numerous, far more various, and far +more complex. They are therefore severally repeated with less frequency +in the lifetime of each individual. Consequently the tendency to perform +them is not completely organized in the nervous system of the offspring +before birth. The short period of ante-natal existence does not afford +time enough for the organization of so many and such complex habitudes +and capacities. The process which in the lower animals is completed +before birth is in the higher animals left to be completed after birth. +When the creature begins its life it is not completely organized. +Instead of the power of doing all the things which its parents did, it +starts with the power of doing only some few of them; for the rest it +has only latent capacities which need to be brought out by its +individual experience after birth. In other words, it begins its +separate life not as a matured creature, but as an infant which needs +for a time to be watched and helped. + + + + +V. + +The Dawning of Consciousness. + + +Here we arrive at one of the most wonderful moments in the history of +creation,--the moment of the first faint dawning of consciousness, the +foreshadowing of the true life of the soul. Whence came the soul we no +more know than we know whence came the universe. The primal origin of +consciousness is hidden in the depths of the bygone eternity. That it +cannot possibly be the product of any cunning arrangement of material +particles is demonstrated beyond peradventure by what we now know of the +correlation of physical forces.[4] The Platonic view of the soul, as a +spiritual substance, an effluence from Godhood, which under certain +conditions becomes incarnated in perishable forms of matter, is +doubtless the view most consonant with the present state of our +knowledge. Yet while we know not the primal origin of the soul, we have +learned something with regard to the conditions under which it has +become incarnated in material forms. Modern psychology has something to +say about the dawning of conscious life in the animal world. Reflex +action is unaccompanied by consciousness. The nervous actions which +regulate the movements of the viscera go on without our knowledge; we +learn of their existence only by study, as we learn of facts in outward +nature. If you tickle the foot of a person asleep, and the foot is +withdrawn by simple reflex action, the sleeper is unconscious alike of +the irritation and of the movement, even as the decapitated frog is +unconscious when a drop of nitric acid falls on his back and he lifts up +a leg and rubs the place. In like manner the reflex movements which make +up the life of the lowest animals are doubtless quite unconscious, even +when in their general character they simulate conscious actions, as they +often do. In the case of such creatures, the famous hypothesis of +Descartes, that animals are automata, is doubtless mainly correct. In +the case of instincts also, where the instinctive actions are completely +organized before birth, and are repeated without variation during the +whole lifetime of the individual, there is probably little if any +consciousness. It is an essential prerequisite of consciousness that +there should be a period of delay or tension between the receipt of an +impression and the determination of the consequent movement. Diminish +this period of delay and you diminish the vividness of consciousness. A +familiar example will make this clear. When you are learning to play a +new piece of music on the piano, especially if you do not read music +rapidly, you are intensely conscious of each group of notes on the page, +and of each group of keys that you strike, and of the relations of the +one to the other. But when you have learned the piece by heart, you +think nothing of either notes or keys, but play automatically while your +attention is concentrated upon the artistic character of the music. If +somebody thoughtlessly interrupts you with a question about Egyptian +politics, you go on playing while you answer him politely. That is, +where you had at first to make a conscious act of volition for each +movement, the whole group of movements has now become automatic, and +volition is only concerned in setting the process going. As the delay +involved in the perception and the movement disappears, so does the +consciousness of the perception and the movement tend to disappear. +Consciousness implies perpetual discrimination, or the recognition of +likenesses and differences, and this is impossible unless impressions +persist long enough to be compared with one another. The physical organs +in connection with whose activity consciousness is manifested are the +upper and outer parts of the brain,--the cerebrum and cerebellum. These +organs never receive impressions directly from the outside world, but +only from lower nerve-centres, such as the spinal cord, the medulla, the +optic lobes, and other special centres of sensation. The impressions +received by the cerebrum and cerebellum are waves of molecular +disturbance sent up along centripetal nerves from the lower centres, and +presently drafted off along centrifugal nerves back to the lower +centres, thus causing the myriad movements which make up our active +life. Now there is no consciousness except when molecular disturbance is +generated in the cerebrum and cerebellum faster than it can be drafted +off to the lower centres.[5] It is the surplus of molecular disturbance +remaining in the cerebrum and cerebellum, and reflected back and forth +among the cells and fibres of which these highest centres are composed, +that affords the physical condition for the manifestation of +consciousness. Memory, emotion, reason, and volition begin with this +retention of a surplus of molecular motion in the highest centres. As we +survey the vertebrate sub-kingdom of animals, we find that as this +surplus increases, the surface of the highest centres increases in area. +In the lowest vertebrate animal, the amphioxus, the cerebrum and +cerebellum do not exist at all. In fishes we begin to find them, but +they are much smaller than the optic lobes. In such a highly organized +fish as the halibut, which weighs about as much as an average-sized man, +the cerebrum is smaller than a melon-seed. Continuing to grow by adding +concentric layers at the surface, the cerebrum and cerebellum become +much larger in birds and lower mammals, gradually covering up the optic +lobes. As we pass to higher mammalian forms, the growth of the cerebrum +becomes most conspicuous, until it extends backwards so far as to cover +up the cerebellum, whose functions are limited to the conscious +adjustment of muscular movements. In the higher apes the cerebrum begins +to extend itself forwards, and this goes on in the human race. The +cranial capacity of the European exceeds that of the Australian by forty +cubic inches, or nearly four times as much as that by which the +Australian exceeds the gorilla; and the expansion is almost entirely in +the upper and anterior portions. But the increase of the cerebral +surface is shown not only in the general size of the organ, but to a +still greater extent in the irregular creasing and furrowing of the +surface. This creasing and furrowing begins to occur in the higher +mammals, and in civilized man it is carried to an astonishing extent. +The amount of intelligence is correlated with the number, the depth, and +the irregularity of the furrows. A cat's brain has a few symmetrical +creases. In an ape the creases are deepened into slight furrows, and +they run irregularly, somewhat like the lines in the palm of your hand. +With age and experience the furrows grow deeper and more sinuous, and +new ones appear; and in man these phenomena come to have great +significance. The cerebral surface of a human infant is like that of an +ape. In an adult savage, or in a European peasant, the furrowing is +somewhat marked and complicated. In the brain of a great scholar, the +furrows are very deep and crooked, and hundreds of creases appear which +are not found at all in the brains of ordinary men. In other words, the +cerebral surface of such a man, the seat of conscious mental life, has +become enormously enlarged in area; and we must further observe that it +goes on enlarging in some cases into extreme old age.[6] + +Putting all these facts together, it becomes plain that in the lowest +animals, whose lives consist of sundry reflex actions monotonously +repeated from generation to generation, there can be nothing, or next to +nothing, of what we know as consciousness. It is only when the life +becomes more complicated and various, so that reflex action can no +longer determine all its movements and the higher nerve-centres begin to +be evolved, that the dawning of consciousness is reached. But with the +growth of the higher centres the capacities of action become so various +and indeterminate that definite direction is not given to them until +after birth. The creature begins life as an infant, with its partially +developed cerebrum representing capabilities which it is left for its +individual experience to bring forth and modify. + + + + +VI. + +Lengthening of Infancy, and Concomitant Increase of Brain-Surface. + + +The first appearance of infancy in the animal world thus heralded the +new era which was to be crowned by the development of Man. With the +beginnings of infancy there came the first dawning of a conscious life +similar in nature to the conscious life of human beings, and there came, +moreover, on the part of parents, the beginning of feelings and actions +not purely self-regarding. But still more, the period of infancy was a +period of plasticity. The career of each individual being no longer +wholly predetermined by the careers of its ancestors, it began to become +teachable. Individuality of character also became possible at the same +time, and for the same reason. All birds and mammals which take care of +their young are teachable, though in very various degrees, and all in +like manner show individual peculiarities of disposition, though in most +cases these are slight and inconspicuous. In dogs, horses, and apes +there is marked teachableness, and there are also marked differences in +individual character. + +But in the non-human animal world all these phenomena are but slightly +developed. They are but the dim adumbrations of what was by and by to +bloom forth in the human race. They can scarcely be said to have served +as a prophecy of the revolution that was to come. One generation of dumb +beasts is after all very like another, and from studying the careers of +the mastodon, the hipparion, the sabre-toothed lion, or even the +dryopithecus, an observer in the Miocene age could never have foreseen +the possibility of a creature endowed with such a boundless capacity of +progress as the modern Man. Nevertheless, however dimly suggestive was +this group of phenomena, it contained the germ of all that is preeminent +in humanity. In the direct line of our ancestry it only needed that the +period of infancy should be sufficiently prolonged, in order that a +creature should at length appear, endowed with the teachableness, the +individuality, and the capacity for progress which are the peculiar +prerogatives of fully-developed Man.[7] In this direct line the manlike +apes of Africa and the Indian Archipelago have advanced far beyond the +mammalian world in general. Along with a cerebral surface, and an +accompanying intelligence, far greater than that of other mammals, these +tailless apes begin life as helpless babies, and are unable to walk, to +feed themselves, or to grasp objects with precision until they are two +or three months old. These apes have thus advanced a little way upon the +peculiar road which our half-human forefathers began to travel as soon +as psychical variations came to be of more use to the species than +variations in bodily structure. The gulf by which the lowest known man +is separated from the highest known ape consists in the great increase +of his cerebral surface, with the accompanying intelligence, and in the +very long duration of his infancy. These two things have gone hand in +hand. The increase of cerebral surface, due to the working of natural +selection in this direction alone, has entailed a vast increase in the +amount of cerebral organization that must be left to be completed after +birth, and thus has prolonged the period of infancy. And conversely the +prolonging of the plastic period of infancy, entailing a vast increase +in teachableness and versatility, has contributed to the further +enlargement of the cerebral surface. The mutual reaction of these two +groups of facts must have gone on for an enormous length of time since +man began thus diverging from his simian brethren. It is not likely that +less than a million years have elapsed since the first page of this new +chapter in the history of creation was opened: it is probable that the +time has been much longer. In comparison with such a period, the whole +recorded duration of human history shrinks into nothingness. The +pyramids of Egypt seem like things of yesterday when we think of the +Cave-Men of western Europe in the glacial period, who scratched pictures +of mammoths on pieces of reindeer-antler with a bit of pointed flint. +Yet during an entire geologic aeon before these Cave-Men appeared on the +scene, "a being erect upon two legs," if we may quote from Serjeant +Buzfuz, "and wearing the outward semblance of a man and not of a +monster," wandered hither and thither over the face of the earth, +setting his mark upon it as no other creature yet had done, leaving +behind him innumerable tell-tale remnants of his fierce and squalid +existence, yet too scantily endowed with wit to make any written +disclosure of his thoughts and deeds. If the physiological annals of +that long and weary time could now be unrolled before us, the principal +fact which we should discern, dominating all other facts in interest and +significance, would be that mutual reaction between increase of cerebral +surface and lengthening of babyhood which I have here described. + +Thus through the simple continuance and interaction of processes that +began far back in the world of warm-blooded animals, we get at last a +creature essentially different from all others. Through the complication +of effects the heaping up of minute differences in degree has ended in +bringing forth a difference in kind. In the human organism physical +variation has well-nigh stopped, or is confined to insignificant +features, save in the grey surface of the cerebrum. The work of cerebral +organization is chiefly completed after birth, as we see by contrasting +the smooth ape-like brain-surface of the new-born child with the +deeply-furrowed and myriad-seamed surface of the adult civilized brain. +The plastic period of adolescence, lengthened in civilized man until it +has come to cover more than one third of his lifetime, is thus the +guaranty of his boundless progressiveness. Inherited tendencies and +aptitudes still form the foundations of character; but individual +experience has come to count as an enormous factor in modifying the +career of mankind from generation to generation. It is not too much to +say that the difference between man and all other living creatures, in +respect of teachableness, progressiveness, and individuality of +character, surpasses all other differences of kind that are known to +exist in the universe. + + + + +VII. + +Change in the Direction of the Working of Natural Selection. + + +In the fresh light which these considerations throw upon the problem of +man's origin, we can now see more clearly than ever how great a +revolution was inaugurated when natural selection began to confine its +operations to the surface of the cerebrum. Among the older incidents in +the evolution of organic life, the changes were very wonderful which out +of the pectoral fin of a fish developed the jointed fore-limb of the +mammal with its five-toed paw, and thence through much slighter +variation brought forth the human arm with its delicate and crafty hand. +More wondrous still were the phases of change through which the +rudimentary pigment-spot of the worm, by the development and +differentiation of successive layers, gave place to the +variously-constructed eyes of insects, mollusks, and vertebrates. The +day for creative work of this sort has probably gone by, as the day for +the evolution of annulose segments and vertebrate skeletons has gone +by,--on our planet, at least. In the line of our own development, all +work of this kind stopped long ago, to be replaced by different methods. +As an optical instrument, the eye had well-nigh reached extreme +perfection in many a bird and mammal ages before man's beginnings; and +the essential features of the human hand existed already in the hands of +Miocene apes. But different methods came in when human intelligence +appeared upon the scene. Mr. Spencer has somewhere reminded us that the +crowbar is but an extra lever added to the levers of which the arm is +already composed, and the telescope but adds a new set of lenses to +those which already exist in the eye. This beautiful illustration goes +to the kernel of the change that was wrought when natural selection +began to confine itself to the psychical modification of our ancestors. +In a very deep sense all human science is but the increment of the power +of the eye, and all human art is the increment of the power of the +hand.[8] Vision and manipulation,--these, in their countless indirect +and transfigured forms, are the two cooeperating factors in all +intellectual progress. It is not merely that with the telescope we see +extinct volcanoes on the moon, or resolve spots of nebulous cloud into +clusters of blazing suns; it is that in every scientific theory we frame +by indirect methods visual images of things not present to sense. With +our mind's eye we see atmospheric convulsions on the surfaces of distant +worlds, watch the giant ichthyosaurs splashing in Jurassic oceans, +follow the varied figures of the rhythmic dance of molecules as chemical +elements unite and separate, or examine, with the aid of long-forgotten +vocabularies now magically restored, the manners and morals, the laws +and superstitions, of peoples that have ceased to be.[9] And so in art +the wonderful printing-press, and the engine that moves it, are the +lineal descendants through countless stages of complication, of the +simple levers of primitive man and the rude stylus wherewith he engraved +strange hieroglyphs on the bark of trees. In such ways, since the human +phase of evolution began, has the direct action of muscle and sense been +supplemented and superseded by the indirect work of the inquisitive and +inventive mind. + + + + +VIII. + +Growing Predominance of the Psychical Life. + + +Let us note one further aspect of this mighty revolution. In its lowly +beginnings the psychical life was merely an appendage to the life of the +body. The avoidance of enemies, the securing of food, the perpetuation +of the species, make up the whole of the lives of lower animals, and the +rudiments of memory, reason, emotion, and volition were at first +concerned solely with the achievement of these ends in an increasingly +indirect, complex, and effective way. Though the life of a large portion +of the human race is still confined to the pursuit of these same ends, +yet so vast has been the increase of psychical life that the simple +character of the ends is liable to be lost sight of amid the variety, +the indirectness, and the complexity of the means. But in civilized +society other ends, purely immaterial in their nature, have come to add +themselves to these, and in some instances to take their place. It is +long since we were told that Man does not live by bread alone. During +many generations we have seen thousands of men, actuated by the noblest +impulse of which humanity is capable, though misled by the teachings of +a crude philosophy, despising and maltreating their bodies as clogs and +incumbrances to the life of the indwelling soul. Countless martyrs we +have seen throwing away the physical earthly life as so much worthless +dross, and all for the sake of purely spiritual truths. As with +religion, so with the scientific spirit and the artistic spirit,--the +unquenchable craving to know the secrets of nature, and the yearning to +create the beautiful in form and colour and sound. In the highest human +beings such ends as these have come to be uppermost in consciousness, +and with the progress of material civilization this will be more and +more the case. If we can imagine a future time when warfare and crime +shall have been done away with forever, when disease shall have been for +the most part curbed, and when every human being by moderate labour can +secure ample food and shelter, we can also see that in such a state of +things the work of civilization would be by no means completed. In +ministering to human happiness in countless ways, through the pursuit of +purely spiritual ends, in enriching and diversifying life to the utmost, +there would still be almost limitless work to be done. I believe that +such a time will come for weary and suffering mankind. Such a faith is +inspiring. It sustains one in the work of life, when one would otherwise +lose heart. But it is a faith that rests upon induction. The process of +evolution is excessively slow, and its ends are achieved at the cost of +enormous waste of life, but for innumerable ages its direction has been +toward the goal here pointed out; and the case may be fitly summed up in +the statement that whereas in its rude beginnings the psychical life was +but an appendage to the body, in fully-developed Humanity the body is +but the vehicle for the soul. + + + + +IX. + +The Origins of Society and of Morality. + + +One further point must be considered before this outline sketch of the +manner of man's origin can be called complete. The psychical development +of Humanity, since its earlier stages, has been largely clue to the +reaction of individuals upon one another in those various relations +which we characterize as social.[10] In considering the origin of Man, +the origin of human society cannot be passed over. Foreshadowings of +social relations occur in the animal world, not only in the line of our +own vertebrate ancestry, but in certain orders of insects which stand +quite remote from that line. Many of the higher mammals are gregarious, +and this is especially true of that whole order of primates to which we +belong. Rudimentary moral sentiments are also clearly discernible in the +highest members of various mammalian orders, and in all but the lowest +members of our own order. But in respect of definiteness and permanence +the relations between individuals in a state of gregariousness fall far +short of the relations between individuals in the rudest human society. +The primordial unit of human society is the family, and it was by the +establishment of definite and permanent family relationships that the +step was taken which raised Man socially above the level of gregarious +apehood. This great point was attained through that lengthening of the +period of helpless childhood which accompanied the gradually increasing +intelligence of our half-human ancestors. When childhood had come to +extend over a period of ten or a dozen years--a period which would be +doubled, or more than doubled, where several children were born in +succession to the same parents--the relationships between father and +mother, brethren and sisters, must have become firmly knit; and thus the +family, the unit of human society, gradually came into existence.[11] +The rudimentary growth of moral sentiment must now have received a +definite direction. As already observed, with the beginnings of infancy +in the animal world there came the genesis in the parents of feelings +and actions not purely self-regarding. Rudimentary sympathies, with +rudimentary capacity for self-devotion, are witnessed now and then among +higher mammals, such as the dog, and not uncommonly among apes. But as +the human family, with its definite relationships, came into being, +there must necessarily have grown up between its various members +reciprocal necessities of behaviour. The conduct of the individual could +no longer be shaped with sole reference to his own selfish desires, but +must be to a great extent subordinated to the general welfare of the +family. And in judging of the character of his own conduct, the +individual must now begin to refer it to some law of things outside of +himself; and hence the germs of conscience and of the idea of duty. Such +were no doubt the crude beginnings of human morality. + +With this genesis of the family, the Creation of Man may be said, in a +certain sense, to have been completed. The great extent of cerebral +surface, the lengthened period of infancy, the consequent capacity for +progress, the definite constitution of the family, and the judgment of +actions as good or bad according to some other standard than that of +selfish desire,--these are the attributes which essentially distinguish +Man from other creatures. All these, we see, are direct or indirect +results of the revolution which began when natural selection came to +confine itself to psychical variations, to the neglect of physical +variations. The immediate result was the increase of cerebrum. This +prolonged the infancy, thus giving rise to the capacity for progress; +and infancy, in turn, originated the family and thus opened the way for +the growth of sympathies and of ethical feelings. All these results have +perpetually reacted upon one another until a creature different in kind +from all other creatures has been evolved. The creature thus evolved +long since became dominant over the earth in a sense in which none of +his predecessors ever became dominant; and henceforth the work of +evolution, so far as our planet is concerned, is chiefly devoted to the +perfecting of this last and most wonderful product of creative energy. + + + + +X. + +Improvableness of Man. + + +For the creation of Man was by no means the creation of a perfect being. +The most essential feature of Man is his improvableness, and since his +first appearance on the earth the changes that have gone on in him have +been enormous, though they have continued to run along in the lines of +development that were then marked out. The changes have been so great +that in many respects the interval between the highest and the lowest +men far surpasses quantitatively the interval between the lowest men and +the highest apes. If we take into account the creasing of the cerebral +surface, the difference between the brain of a Shakespeare and that of +an Australian savage would doubtless be fifty times greater than the +difference between the Australian's brain and that of an orang-outang. +In mathematical capacity the Australian, who cannot tell the number of +fingers on his two hands, is much nearer to a lion or wolf than to Sir +Rowan Hamilton, who invented the method of quaternions. In moral +development this same Australian, whose language contains no words for +justice and benevolence, is less remote from dogs and baboons than from +a Howard or a Garrison. In progressiveness, too, the difference between +the lowest and the highest races of men is no less conspicuous. The +Australian is more teachable than the ape, but his limit is nevertheless +very quickly reached. All the distinctive attributes of Man, in short, +have been developed to an enormous extent through long ages of social +evolution. + +This psychical development of Man is destined to go on in the future as +it has gone on in the past. The creative energy which has been at work +through the bygone eternity is not going to become quiescent to-morrow. +We have learned something of its methods of working, and from the +careful observation of the past we can foresee the future in some of its +most general outlines. From what has already gone on during the historic +period of man's existence, we can safely predict a change that will by +and by distinguish him from all other creatures even more widely and +more fundamentally than he is distinguished today. Whenever in the +course of organic evolution we see any function beginning as incidental +to the performance of other functions, and continuing for many ages to +increase in importance until it becomes an indispensable strand in the +web of life, we may be sure that by a continuance of the same process +its influence is destined to increase still more in the future. Such has +been the case with the function of sympathy, and with the ethical +feelings which have grown up along with sympathy and depend largely upon +it for their vitality. Like everything else which especially +distinguishes Man, the altruistic feelings were first called into +existence through the first beginnings of infancy in the animal world. +Their rudimentary form was that of the transient affection of a female +bird or mammal for its young. First given a definite direction through +the genesis of the primitive human family, the development of altruism +has formed an important part of the progress of civilization, but as yet +it has scarcely kept pace with the general development of intelligence. +There can be little doubt that in respect of justice and kindness the +advance of civilized man has been less marked than in respect of +quick-wittedness. Now this is because the advancement of civilized man +has been largely effected through fighting, through the continuance of +that deadly struggle and competition which has been going on ever since +organic life first appeared on the earth. It is through such fierce and +perpetual struggle that the higher forms of life have been gradually +evolved by natural selection. But we have already seen how in many +respects the evolution of Man was the opening of an entirely new chapter +in the history of the universe. In no respect was it more so than in the +genesis of the altruistic emotions. For when natural selection, through +the lengthening of childhood, had secured a determinate development for +this class of human feelings, it had at last originated a power which +could thrive only through the elimination of strife. And the later +history of mankind, during the past thirty centuries, has been +characterized by the gradual eliminating of strife, though the process +has gone on with the extreme slowness that marks all the work of +evolution. It is only at the present clay that, by surveying human +history from the widest possible outlook, and with the aid of the habits +of thought which the study of evolution fosters, we are enabled +distinctly to observe this tendency. As this is the most wonderful of +all the phases of that stupendous revolution in nature which was +inaugurated in the Creation of Man, it deserves especial attention here; +and we shall find it leading us quite directly to our conclusion. From +the Origin of Man, when thoroughly comprehended in its general outlines, +we shall at length be able to catch some glimpses of his Destiny. + + + + +XI. + +Universal Warfare of Primeval Men. + + +In speaking of the higher altruistic feelings as being antagonistic to +the continuance of warfare, I did not mean to imply that warfare can +ever be directly put down by our horror of cruelty or our moral +disapproval of strife. The actual process is much more indirect and +complex than this. In respect of belligerency the earliest men were +doubtless no better than brutes. They were simply the most crafty and +formidable among brutes. To get food was the prime necessity of life, +and as long as food was obtainable only by hunting and fishing, or +otherwise seizing upon edible objects already in existence, chronic and +universal quarrel was inevitable. The conditions of the struggle for +existence were not yet visibly changed from what they had been from the +outset in the animal world. That struggle meant everlasting slaughter, +and the fiercest races of fighters would be just the ones to survive and +perpetuate their kind. Those most successful primitive men, from whom +civilized peoples are descended, must have excelled in treachery and +cruelty, as in quickness of wit and strength of will. That moral sense +which makes it seem wicked to steal and murder was scarcely more +developed in them than in tigers or wolves. But to all this there was +one exception. The family supplied motives for peaceful cooeperation.[12] +Within the family limits fidelity and forbearance had their uses, for +events could not have been long in showing that the most coherent +families would prevail over their less coherent rivals. Observation of +the most savage races agrees with the comparative study of the +institutions of civilized peoples, in proving that the only bond of +political union recognized among primitive men, or conceivable by them, +was the physical fact of blood-relationship. Illustrations of this are +found in plenty far within the historic period. The very township, which +under one name or another has formed the unit of political society among +all civilized peoples, was originally the stockaded dwelling-place of a +clan which traced its blood to a common ancestor. In such a condition of +things the nearest approach ever made to peace was a state of armed +truce; and while the simple rules of morality were recognized, they were +only regarded as binding within the limits of the clan. There was no +recognition of the wickedness of robbery and murder in general. + +This state of things, as above hinted, could not come to an end as long +as men obtained food by seizing upon edible objects already in +existence. The supply of fish, game, or fruit being strictly limited, +men must ordinarily fight under penalty of starvation. If we could put a +moral interpretation upon events which antedated morality as we +understand it, we should say it was their duty to fight; and the +reverence accorded to the chieftain who murdered most successfully in +behalf of his clansmen was well deserved. It is worthy of note that, in +isolated parts of the earth where the natural supply of food is +abundant, as in sundry tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean, men have +ceased from warfare and become gentle and docile without rising above +the intellectual level of savagery. Compared with other savages, they +are like the chimpanzee as contrasted with the gorilla. Such exceptional +instances well illustrate the general truth that, so long as the method +of obtaining food was the same as that employed by brute animals, men +must continue to fight like dogs over a bone. + + + + +XII. + +First checked by the Beginnings of Industrial Civilization. + + +But presently man's superior intelligence came into play in such wise +that other and better methods of getting food were devised. When in +intervals of peace men learned to rear flocks and herds, and to till the +ground, and when they had further learned to exchange with one another +the products of their labour, a new step, of most profound significance, +was taken. Tribes which had once learned how to do these things were not +long in overcoming their neighbours, and flourishing at their expense, +for agriculture allows a vastly greater population to live upon a given +area, and in many ways it favours social compactness. An immense series +of social changes was now begun. Whereas the only conceivable bond of +political combination had heretofore been blood-relationship, a new +basis was now furnished by territorial contiguity and by community of +occupation. The supply of food was no longer strictly limited, for it +could be indefinitely increased by peaceful industry; and moreover, in +the free exchange of the products of labour, it ceased to be true that +one man's interest was opposed to another's. Men did not at once +recognize this fact, and indeed it has not yet become universally +recognized, so long have men persisted in interpreting the conditions of +industrial life in accordance with the immemorial traditions of the time +when the means of subsistence were strictly limited, so that one man's +success meant another's starvation. Our robber tariffs--miscalled +"protective"--are survivals of the barbarous mode of thinking which +fitted the ages before industrial civilization began. But although the +pacific implications of free exchange were very slowly recognized, it is +not the less true that the beginnings of agriculture and commerce marked +the beginnings of the greatest social revolution in the whole career of +mankind. Henceforth the conditions for the maintenance of physical life +became different from what they had been throughout the past history of +the animal world. It was no longer necessary for men to quarrel for +their food like dogs over a bone; for they could now obtain it far more +effectively by applying their intelligence to the task of utilizing the +forces of inanimate nature; and the due execution of such a task was in +no wise assisted by wrath and contention, but from the outset was rather +hindered by such things. + +Such were the beginnings of industrial civilization. Out of its +exigencies, continually increasing in complexity, have proceeded, +directly or indirectly, the arts and sciences which have given to modern +life so much of its interest and value. But more important still has been +the work of industrial civilization in the ethical field. By furnishing +a wider basis for political union than mere blood-relationship, it +greatly extended the area within which moral obligations were recognized +as binding. At first confined to the clan, the idea of duty came at +length to extend throughout a state in which many clans were combined +and fused, and as it thus increased in generality and abstractness, the +idea became immeasurably strengthened and ennobled. At last, with the +rise of empires, in which many states were brought together in pacific +industrial relations, the recognized sphere of moral obligation became +enlarged until it comprehended all mankind. + + + + +XIII. + +Methods of Political Development, and Elimination of Warfare. + + +This rise of empires, this coalescence of small groups of men into +larger and larger political aggregates, has been the chief work of +civilization, when looked at on its political side.[13] Like all the +work of evolution, this process has gone on irregularly and +intermittently, and its ultimate tendency has only gradually become +apparent. This process of coalescence has from the outset been brought +about by the needs of industrial civilization, and the chief obstacle +which it has had to encounter has been the universal hostility and +warfare bequeathed from primeval times. The history of mankind has been +largely made up of fighting, but in the careers of the most progressive +races this fighting has been far from meaningless, like the battles of +kites and crows. In the stream of history which, beginning on the shores +of the Mediterranean Sea, has widened until in our day it covers both +sides of the Atlantic and is fast extending over the remotest parts of +the earth,--in this main stream of history the warfare which has gone on +has had a clearly discernible purpose and meaning. Broadly considered, +this warfare has been chiefly the struggle of the higher industrial +civilization in defending itself against the attacks of neighbours who +had not advanced beyond that early stage of humanity in which warfare +was chronic and normal. During the historic period, the wars of Europe +have been either contests between the industrial and the predatory types +of society, or contests incident upon the imperfect formation of large +political aggregates. There have been three ways in which great +political bodies have arisen. The earliest and lowest method was that of +_conquest without incorporation_. A single powerful tribe conquered and +annexed its neighbours without admitting them to a share in the +government. It appropriated their military strength, robbed them of most +of the fruits of their labour, and thus virtually enslaved them. Such +was the origin of the great despotic empires of Oriental type. Such +states degenerate rapidly in military strength. Their slavish +populations, accustomed to be starved and beaten or massacred by the +tax-gatherer, become unable to fight, so that great armies of them will +flee before a handful of freemen, as in the case of the ancient Persians +and the modern Egyptians. To strike down the executive head of such an +assemblage of enslaved tribes is to effect the conquest or the +dissolution of the whole mass, and hence the history of Eastern peoples +has been characterized by sudden and gigantic revolutions. + +The second method of forming great political bodies was that of +_conquest with incorporation_. The conquering tribe, while annexing its +neighbours, gradually admitted them to a share in the government. In +this way arose the Roman empire, the largest, the most stable, and in +its best days the most pacific political aggregate the world had as yet +seen. Throughout the best part of Europe, its conquests succeeded in +transforming the ancient predatory type of society into the modern +industrial type. It effectually broke up the primeval clan-system, with +its narrow ethical ideas, and arrived at the broad conception of rights +and duties coextensive with Humanity. But in the method upon which Rome +proceeded there was an essential element of weakness. The simple device +of representation, by which political power is equally retained in all +parts of the community while its exercise is delegated to a central +body, was entirely unknown to the Romans. Partly for this reason, and +partly because of the terrible military pressure to which the frontier +was perpetually exposed, the Roman government became a despotism which +gradually took on many of the vices of the Oriental type. The political +weakness which resulted from this allowed Europe to be overrun by +peoples organized in clans and tribes, and for some time there was a +partial retrogression toward the disorder characteristic of primitive +ages. The retrogression was but partial and temporary, however; the +exposed frontier has been steadily pushed eastward into the heart of +Asia; the industrial type of society is no longer menaced by the +predatory type; the primeval clan-system has entirely disappeared as a +social force; and warfare, once ubiquitous and chronic, has become local +and occasional. + +The third and highest method of forming great political bodies is that +of _federation_. The element of fighting was essential in the two lower +methods, but in this it is not essential. Here there is no conquest, but +a voluntary union of small political groups into a great political +group. Each little group preserves its local independence intact, while +forming part of an indissoluble whole. Obviously this method of +political union requires both high intelligence and high ethical +development In early times it was impracticable. It was first attempted, +with brilliant though ephemeral success, by the Greeks, but it failed +for want of the device of representation. In later times it was put into +operation, with permanent success, on a small scale by the Swiss, and on +a great scale by our forefathers in England. The coalescence of shires +into the kingdom of England, effected as it was by means of a +representative assembly, and accompanied by the general retention of +local self-government, afforded a distinct precedent for such a gigantic +federal union as men of English race have since constructed in America. +The principle of federation was there, though not the name. And here we +hit upon the fundamental contrast between the history of England and +that of France. The method by which the modern French nation has been +built up has been the Roman method of conquest with incorporation. As +the ruler of Paris gradually overcame his vassals, one after another, by +warfare or diplomacy, he annexed their counties to his royal domain, and +governed them by lieutenants sent from Paris. Self-government was thus +crushed out in France, while it was preserved in England. And just as +Rome achieved its unprecedented dominion by adopting a political method +more effective than any that had been hitherto employed, so England, +employing for the first time a still higher and more effective method, +has come to play a part in the world compared with which even the part +played by Rome seems insignificant. The test of the relative strength of +the English and Roman methods came when England and France contended for +the possession of North America. The people which preserved its +self-government could send forth self-supporting colonies; the people +which had lost the very tradition of self-government could not. Hence +the dominion of the sea, with that of all the outlying parts of the +earth, fell into the hands of men of English race; and hence the +federative method of political union--the method which contains every +element of permanence, and which is pacific in its very conception--is +already assuming a sway which is unquestionably destined to become +universal. + +Bearing all this in mind, we cannot fail to recognize the truth of the +statement that the great wars of the historic period have been either +contests between the industrial and the predatory types of society or +contests incident upon the imperfect formation of great political +aggregates. Throughout the turmoil of the historic period--which on a +superficial view seems such a chaos--we see certain definite tendencies +at work; the tendency toward the formation of larger and larger +political aggregates, and toward the more perfect maintenance of local +self-government and individual freedom among the parts of the aggregate. +This two-sided process began with the beginnings of industrial +civilization; it has aided the progress of industry and been aided by +it; and the result has been to diminish the quantity of warfare, and to +lessen the number of points at which it touches the ordinary course of +civilized life. With the further continuance of this process, but one +ultimate result is possible. It must go on until warfare becomes +obsolete. The nineteenth century, which has witnessed an unprecedented +development of industrial civilization, with its attendant arts and +sciences, has also witnessed an unprecedented diminution in the strength +of the primeval spirit of militancy. It is not that we have got rid of +great wars, but that the relative proportion of human strength which has +been employed in warfare has been remarkably less than in any previous +age. In our own history, of the two really great wars which have +permeated our whole social existence,--the Revolutionary War and the War +of Secession,--the first was fought in behalf of the pacific principle +of equal representation; the second was fought in behalf of the pacific +principle of federalism. In each case, the victory helped to hasten the +day when warfare shall become unnecessary. In the few great wars of +Europe since the overthrow of Napoleon, we may see the same principle at +work. In almost every case the result has been to strengthen the pacific +tendencies of modern society. Whereas warfare was once dominant over the +face of the earth, and came home in all its horrid details to +everybody's door, and threatened the very existence of industrial +civilization; it has now become narrowly confined in time and space, it +no longer comes home to everybody's door, and, in so far as it is still +tolerated, for want of a better method of settling grave international +questions, it has become quite ancillary to the paramount needs, of +industrial civilization. When we can see so much as this lying before us +on the pages of history, we cannot fail to see that the final extinction +of warfare is only a question of time. Sooner or later it must come to +an end, and the pacific principle of federalism, whereby questions +between states are settled, like questions between individuals by due +process of law, must reign supreme over all the earth. + + + + +XIV. + +End of the Working of Natural Selection upon Man. Throwing off the +Brute-Inheritance. + + +As regards the significance of Man's position in the universe, this +gradual elimination of strife is a fact of utterly unparalleled +grandeur. Words cannot do justice to such a fact. It means that the +wholesale destruction of life, which has heretofore characterized +evolution ever since life began, and through which the higher forms of +organic existence have been produced, must presently come to an end in +the case of the chief of God's creatures. It means that the universal +struggle for existence, having succeeded in bringing forth that +consummate product of creative energy, the Human Soul, has done its work +and will presently cease. In the lower regions of organic life it must +go on, but as a determining factor in the highest work of evolution it +will disappear. + +The action of natural selection upon Man has long since been essentially +diminished through the operation of social conditions. For in all grades +of civilization above the lowest, "there are so many kinds of +superiorities which severally enable men to survive, notwithstanding +accompanying inferiorities, that natural selection cannot by itself +rectify any particular unfitness." In a race of inferior animals any +maladjustment is quickly removed by natural selection, because, owing to +the universal slaughter, the highest completeness of life possible to a +given grade of organization is required for the mere maintenance of +life. But under the conditions surrounding human development it is +otherwise.[14] There is a wide interval between the highest and lowest +degrees of completeness of living that are compatible with maintenance +of life. + +Hence the wicked flourish. Vice is but slowly eliminated, because +mankind has so many other qualities, beside the bad ones, which enable +it to subsist and achieve progress in spite of them, that natural +selection--which always works through death--cannot come into play. The +improvement of civilized man goes on mainly through processes of direct +adaptation. The principle in accordance with which the gloved hand of +the dandy becomes white and soft while the hand of the labouring man +grows brown and tough is the main principle at work in the improvement +of Humanity. Our intellectual faculties, our passions and prejudices, +our tastes and habits, become strengthened by use and weakened by +disuse, just as the blacksmith's arm grows strong and the horse turned +out to pasture becomes unfit for work. This law of use and disuse has +been of immense importance throughout the whole evolution of organic +life. With Man it has come to be paramount. + +If now we contrast the civilized man intellectually and morally with the +savage, we find that, along with his vast increase of cerebral surface, +he has an immensely greater power of representing in imagination objects +and relations not present to the senses. This is the fundamental +intellectual difference between civilized men and savages.[15] The power +of imagination, or ideal representation, underlies the whole of science +and art, and it is closely connected with the ability to work hard and +submit to present discomfort for the sake of a distant reward. It is +also closely connected with the development of the sympathetic feelings. +The better we can imagine objects and relations not present to sense, +the more readily we can sympathize with other people. Half the cruelty +in the world is the direct result of stupid incapacity to put one's self +in the other man's place. So closely inter-related are our intellectual +and moral natures that the development of sympathy is very considerably +determined by increasing width and variety of experience. From the +simplest form of sympathy, such as the painful thrill felt on seeing +some one in a dangerous position, up to the elaborate complication of +altruistic feelings involved in the notion of abstract justice, the +development is very largely a development of the representative faculty. +The very same causes, therefore, deeply grounded in the nature of +industrial civilization, which have developed science and art, have also +had a distinct tendency to encourage the growth of the sympathetic +emotions. + +But, as already observed, these emotions are still too feebly developed, +even in the highest races of men. We have made more progress in +intelligence than in kindness. For thousands of generations, and until +very recent times, one of the chief occupations of men has been to +plunder, bruise, and kill one another. The selfish and ugly passions +which are primordial--which have the incalculable strength of +inheritance from the time when animal consciousness began--have had but +little opportunity to grow weak from disuse. The tender and unselfish +feelings, which are a later product of evolution, have too seldom been +allowed to grow strong from exercise. And the whims and prejudices of +the primeval militant barbarism are slow in dying out from the midst of +peaceful industrial civilization. The coarser forms of cruelty are +disappearing, and the butchery of men has greatly diminished. But most +people apply to industrial pursuits a notion of antagonism derived from +ages of warfare, and seek in all manner of ways to cheat or overreach +one another. And as in more barbarous times the hero was he who had +slain his tens of thousands, so now the man who has made wealth by +overreaching his neighbours is not uncommonly spoken of in terms which +imply approval. Though gentlemen, moreover, no longer assail one another +with knives and clubs, they still inflict wounds with cruel words and +sneers. Though the free--thinker is no longer chained to a stake and +burned, people still tell lies about him, and do their best to starve +him by hurting his reputation. The virtues of forbearance and +self-control are still in a very rudimentary state, and of mutual +helpfulness there is far too little among men. + +Nevertheless in all these respects some improvement has been made, along +with the diminution of warfare, and by the time warfare has not merely +ceased from the earth but has come to be the dimly remembered phantom of +a remote past, the development of the sympathetic side of human nature +will doubtless become prodigious. The manifestation of selfish and +hateful feelings will be more and more sternly repressed by public +opinion, and such feelings will become weakened by disuse, while the +sympathetic feelings will increase in strength as the sphere for their +exercise is enlarged. And thus at length we see what human progress +means. It means throwing off the brute-inheritance,--gradually throwing +it off through ages of struggle that are by and by to make struggle +needless. Man is slowly passing from a primitive social state in which +he was little better than a brute, toward an ultimate social state in +which his character shall have become so transformed that nothing of the +brute can be detected in it. The ape and the tiger in human nature will +become extinct. Theology has had much to say about original sin. This +original sin is neither more nor less than the brute-inheritance which +every man carries with him, and the process of evolution is an advance +toward true salvation. Fresh value is thus added to human life. The +modern prophet, employing the methods of science, may again proclaim +that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Work ye, therefore, early and +late, to prepare its coming. + + + + +XV. + +The Message of Christianity. + + +Now what is this message of the modern prophet but pure +Christianity?--not the mass of theological doctrine ingeniously piled up +by Justin Martyr and Tertullian and Clement and Athanasius and +Augustine, but the real and essential Christianity which came, fraught +with good tidings to men, from the very lips of Jesus and Paul! When did +St. Paul's conception of the two men within him that warred against each +other, the appetites of our brute nature and the God-given yearning for +a higher life,--when did this grand conception ever have so much +significance as now? When have we ever before held such a clew to the +meaning of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount? "Blessed are the meek, for +they shall inherit the earth." In the cruel strife of centuries has it +not often seemed as if the earth were to be rather the prize of the +hardest heart and the strongest fist? To many men these words of Christ +have been as foolishness and as a stumbling-block, and the ethics of the +Sermon on the Mount have been openly derided as too good for this world. +In that wonderful picture of modern life which is the greatest work of +one of the great seers of our time, Victor Hugo gives a concrete +illustration of the working of Christ's methods. In the saintlike career +of Bishop Myriel, and in the transformation which his example works in +the character of the hardened outlaw Jean Valjean, we have a most +powerful commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. By some critics who +could express their views freely about "Les Miserables" while hesitating +to impugn directly the authority of the New Testament, Monseigneur +Bienvenu was unsparingly ridiculed as a man of impossible goodness, and +as a milksop and fool withal. But I think Victor Hugo understood the +capabilities of human nature, and its real dignity, much better than +these scoffers. In a low stage of civilization Monseigneur Bienvenu +would have had small chance of reaching middle life. Christ himself, we +remember, was crucified between two thieves. It is none the less true +that when once the degree of civilization is such as to allow this +highest type of character, distinguished by its meekness and kindness, +to take root and thrive, its methods are incomparable in their potency. +The Master knew full well that the time was not yet ripe,--that he +brought not peace, but a sword. But he preached nevertheless that gospel +of great joy which is by and by to be realized by toiling Humanity, and +he announced ethical principles fit for the time that is coming. The +great originality of his teaching, and the feature that has chiefly +given it power in the world, lay in the distinctness with which he +conceived a state of society from which every vestige of strife, and the +modes of behaviour adapted to ages of strife, shall be utterly and +forever swept away. Through misery that has seemed unendurable and +turmoil that has seemed endless, men have thought on that gracious life +and its sublime ideal, and have taken comfort in the sweetly solemn +message of peace on earth and good will to men. + +I believe that the promise with which I started has now been amply +redeemed. I believe it has been fully shown that so far from degrading +Humanity, or putting it on a level with the animal world in general, the +doctrine of evolution shows us distinctly for the first time how the +creation and the perfecting of Man is the goal toward which Nature's +work has been tending from the first. We can now see clearly that our +new knowledge enlarges tenfold the significance of human life, and makes +it seem more than ever the chief object of Divine care, the consummate +fruition of that creative energy which is manifested throughout the +knowable universe. + + + + +XVI. + +The Question as to a Future Life. + + +Upon the question whether Humanity is, after all, to cast in its lot +with the grass that withers and the beasts that perish, the whole +foregoing argument has a bearing that is by no means remote or +far-fetched. It is not likely that we shall ever succeed in making the +immortality of the soul a matter of scientific demonstration, for we +lack the requisite data. It must ever remain an affair of religion +rather than of science. In other words, it must remain one of that class +of questions upon which I may not expect to convince my neighbour, while +at the same time I may entertain a reasonable conviction of my own upon +the subject.[16] In the domain of cerebral physiology the question might +be debated forever without a result. The only thing which cerebral +physiology tells us, when studied with the aid of molecular physics, is +against the materialist, so far as it goes. It tells us that, during the +present life, although thought and feeling are always manifested in +connection with a peculiar form of matter, yet by no possibility can +thought and feeling be in any sense the products of matter. Nothing +could be more grossly unscientific than the famous remark of Cabanis, +that the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile. It is not +even correct to say that thought goes on in the brain. What goes on in +the brain is an amazingly complex series of molecular movements, with +which thought and feeling are in some unknown way correlated, not as +effects or as causes, but as concomitants. So much is clear, but +cerebral physiology says nothing about another life. Indeed, why should +it? The last place in the world to which I should go for information +about a state of things in which thought and feeling can exist in the +absence of a cerebrum would be cerebral physiology! + +The materialistic assumption that there is no such state of things, and +that the life of the soul accordingly ends with the life of the body, is +perhaps the most colossal instance of baseless assumption that is known +to the history of philosophy. No evidence for it can be alleged beyond +the familiar fact that during the present life we know Soul only in its +association with Body, and therefore cannot discover disembodied soul +without dying ourselves. This fact must always prevent us from obtaining +direct evidence for the belief in the soul's survival. But a negative +presumption is not created by the absence of proof in cases where, in +the nature of things, proof is inaccessible.[17] With his illegitimate +hypothesis of annihilation, the materialist transgresses the bounds of +experience quite as widely as the poet who sings of the New Jerusalem +with its river of life and its streets of gold. Scientifically speaking, +there is not a particle of evidence for either view. + +But when we desist from the futile attempt to introduce scientific +demonstration into a region which confessedly transcends human +experience, and when we consider the question upon broad grounds of +moral probability, I have no doubt that men will continue in the future, +as in the past, to cherish the faith in a life beyond the grave. In past +times the disbelief in the soul's immortality has always accompanied +that kind of philosophy which, under whatever name, has regarded +Humanity as merely a local incident in an endless and aimless series of +cosmical changes. As a general rule, people who have come to take such a +view of the position of Man in the universe have ceased to believe in a +future life. On the other hand, he who regards Man as the consummate +fruition of creative energy, and the chief object of Divine care, is +almost irresistibly driven to the belief that the soul's career is not +completed with the present life upon the earth. Difficulties on theory +he will naturally expect to meet in many quarters; but these will not +weaken his faith, especially when he remembers that upon the alternative +view the difficulties are at least as great. We live in a world of +mystery, at all events, and there is not a problem in the simplest and +most exact departments of science which does not speedily lead us to a +transcendental problem that we can neither solve nor elude. A broad +common-sense argument has often to be called in, where keen-edged +metaphysical analysis has confessed itself baffled. + +Now we have here seen that the doctrine of evolution does not allow us +to take the atheistic view of the position of Man. It is true that +modern astronomy shows us giant balls of vapour condensing into fiery +suns, cooling down into planets fit for the support of life, and at last +growing cold and rigid in death, like the moon. And there are +indications of a time when systems of dead planets shall fall in upon +their central ember that was once a sun, and the whole lifeless mass, +thus regaining heat, shall expand into a nebulous cloud like that with +which we started, that the work of condensation and evolution may begin +over again. These Titanic events must doubtless seem to our limited +vision like an endless and aimless series of cosmical changes. They +disclose no signs of purpose, or even of dramatic tendency;[18] they +seem like the weary work of Sisyphos. But on the face of our own planet, +where alone we are able to survey the process of evolution in its higher +and more complex details, we do find distinct indications of a dramatic +tendency, though doubtless not of purpose in the limited human sense. +The Darwinian theory, properly understood, replaces as much +teleology[19] as it destroys. From the first dawning of life we see all +things working together toward one mighty goal, the evolution of the +most exalted spiritual qualities which characterize Humanity. The body +is cast aside and returns to the dust of which it was made. The earth, +so marvellously wrought to man's uses, will also be cast aside. The day +is to come, no doubt, when the heavens shall vanish as a scroll, and the +elements be melted with fervent heat. So small is the value which Nature +sets upon the perishable forms of matter! The question, then, is reduced +to this: are Man's highest spiritual qualities, into the production of +which all this creative energy has gone, to disappear with the rest? Has +all this work been done for nothing? Is it all ephemeral, all a bubble +that bursts, a vision that fades? Are we to regard the Creator's work as +like that of a child, who builds houses out of blocks, just for the +pleasure of knocking them down? For aught that science can tell us, it +may be so, but I can see no good reason for believing any such thing. On +such a view the riddle of the universe becomes a riddle without a +meaning. Why, then, are we any more called upon to throw away our belief +in the permanence of the spiritual element in Man than we are called +upon to throw away our belief in the constancy of Nature? When +questioned as to the ground of our irresistible belief that like causes +must always be followed by like effects, Mr. Mill's answer was that it +is the result of an induction coextensive with the whole of our +experience; Mr. Spencer's answer was that it is a postulate which we +make in every act of experience;[20] but the authors of the "Unseen +Universe," slightly varying the form of statement, called it a supreme +act of faith,--the expression of a trust in God, that He will not "put +us to permanent intellectual confusion." Now the more thoroughly we +comprehend that process of evolution by which things have come to be +what they are, the more we are likely to feel that to deny the +everlasting persistence of the spiritual element in Man is to rob the +whole process of its meaning. It goes far toward putting us to permanent +intellectual confusion, and I do not see that any one has as yet +alleged, or is ever likely to allege, a sufficient reason for our +accepting so dire an alternative. + +For my own part, therefore, I believe in the immortality of the soul, +not in the sense in which I accept the demonstrable truths of science, +but as a supreme act of faith in the reasonableness of God's work. Such +a belief, relating to regions quite inaccessible to experience, cannot +of course be clothed in terms of definite and tangible meaning. For the +experience which alone can give us such terms we must await that solemn +day which is to overtake us all. The belief can be most quickly defined +by its negation, as the refusal to believe that this world is all. The +materialist holds that when you have described the whole universe of +phenomena of which we can become cognizant under the conditions of the +present life, then the whole story is told. It seems to me, on the +contrary, that the whole story is not thus told. I feel the omnipresence +of mystery in such wise as to make it far easier for me to adopt the +view of Euripides, that what we call death may be but the dawning of +true knowledge and of true life. The greatest philosopher of modern +times, the master and teacher of all who shall study the process of +evolution for many a day to come, holds that the conscious soul is not +the product of a collocation of material particles, but is in the +deepest sense a divine effluence. According to Mr. Spencer, the divine +energy which is manifested throughout the knowable universe is the same +energy that wells up in us as consciousness. Speaking for myself, I can +see no insuperable difficulty in the notion that at some period in the +evolution of Humanity this divine spark may have acquired sufficient +concentration and steadiness to survive the wreck of material forms and +endure forever. Such a crowning wonder seems to me no more than the fit +climax to a creative work that has been ineffably beautiful and +marvellous in all its myriad stages. + +Only on some such view can the reasonableness of the universe, which +still remains far above our finite power of comprehension, maintain its +ground. There are some minds inaccessible to the class of considerations +here alleged, and perhaps there always will be. But on such grounds, if +on no other, the faith in immortality is likely to be shared by all who +look upon the genesis of the highest spiritual qualities in Man as the +goal of Nature's creative work. This view has survived the Copernican +revolution in science, and it has survived the Darwinian revolution. +Nay, if the foregoing exposition be sound, it is Darwinism which has +placed Humanity upon a higher pinnacle than ever. The future is lighted +for us with the radiant colours of hope. Strife and sorrow shall +disappear. Peace and love shall reign supreme. The dream of poets, the +lesson of priest and prophet, the inspiration of the great musician, is +confirmed in the light of modern knowledge; and as we gird ourselves up +for the work of life, we may look forward to the time when in the truest +sense the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and +he shall reign for ever and ever, king of kings and lord of lords. + + + + +REFERENCES. + + + C.P., Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, 1874; + U.W., The Unseen World, 1876; + D., Darwinism and Other Essays, 1879; + E.E., Excursions of an Evolutionist, 1884. + + 1: C.P. ii. 432-451. + 2: C.P. ii. 89-91. + 3: C.P. ii. 318-321; D. 45. + 4: U.W. 40-42; D. 65-74; E.E. 278-282, 327, 336. + 5: C.P. ii. 154-159. + 6: C.P. ii. 133-135. + 7: D. 45-48; E.E. 306-319. + 8: C.P. ii. 310. + 9: E.E. 109-146. + 10: C.P. ii. 284-323. + 11: C.P. ii. 342-346, 358-363. + 12: C.P. ii. 202-208. + 13: C.P. ii. 213-224. + 14: C.P. ii. 334. + 15: C.P. ii. 312-315. + 16: U.W. 54; E.E. 289-291. + 17: U.W. 47-50; D. 75. + 18: D. 96-102. + 19: C.P. ii. 406. + 20: C.P. i. 45-71, 286; ii. 162; U.W. 6; D. 87-95. + + + + + * * * * * + + +John Fiske's Writings. + + +MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS: Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by +Comparative Mythology, _17th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00. + +OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. Based on the Doctrine of Evolution, with +Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy. _14th Edition_. 2 vols., +8vo, $6.00 + +THE UNSEEN WORLD, and other Essays, _12th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00. + +EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST. _15th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00. + +DARWINISM, and other Essays. _8th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00. + +THE DESTINY OF MAN, viewed in the Light of His Origin. _20th +Edition_. 16mo, $1.00. + +THE IDEA OF GOD, as affected by Modern Knowledge. A Sequel to "The +Destiny of Man." _14th Thousand_. 16mo, $1.00. + +THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789. _12th Edition_. +Crown 8vo, $2.00. + +THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND or the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations +to Civil and Religious Liberty. _10th Thousand_. Crown 8vo, $2.00. + +THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. In Riverside Library for Young People. 16mo, 75 +cents. + +THE DISCOVERY AND SPANISH CONQUEST OF AMERICA. With Maps, _11th +Thousand_. 2 vols., crown 8vo, $4.00. + +THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. _8th Thousand_. 2 vols., crown 8vo, $4.00. + +CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. CONSIDERED WITH SOME REFERENCE TO +ITS ORIGINS. _56th Thousand._ Crown 8vo, $1.00, _net_. + +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +BOSTON AND NEW YORK. + + * * * * * + +AMERICAN POLITICAL IDEAS, viewed from the Stand-point of Universal +History. _Seventh Edition_. 12mo, $1.00. HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF JOHN FISKE. + + +THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. + +_With some Account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest. With a +steel portrait of Mr. Fiske, reproductions of many old maps, several +modern maps, facsimiles, and other illustrations. 2 vols. crown 8vo, +$4.00._ + +_LARGE-PAPER EDITION. Limited to 250 copies. 4 vols. 8vo, $16.00, net._ + +This work forms the beginning of Mr. Fiske's history of America. It is, +perhaps, the most important single portion yet completed by him, and +gives the results of vast research. + + +THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. + +_With Plans of Battles, and a new Steel Portrait of Washington, engraved +by Willcox from a miniature never before reproduced. 2 vols. crown 8vo, +gilt top, $4.00._ + +The reader may turn to these volumes with full assurance of faith for a +fresh rehearsal of the old facts, which no time can stale, and for new +views of those old facts, according to the larger framework of ideas in +which they can now be set by the master of a captivating style and an +expert in historical philosophy.--_New York Evening Post_. + +The freshness and vivid interest of the narrative and the comprehensive +generalization which springs naturally from the author's plan of a large +work on American history, of which the two volumes now published are no +more than a third or a fourth part, make it a book of new and permanent +interest.--_Springfield Republican_. + + +CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES + +_Considered with some Reference to its Origins. With Questions on the +Text by Frank A. Hill, and Bibliographical Notes by Mr. Fiske. 12mo, +$1.00, net._ + +If this admirable volume (Fiske's "Civil Government") can be fairly +taught to our rising generation, the future, we believe, will show that +Mr. Fiske has never done more useful work than in its preparation.--_The +Congregationalist_ (Boston). + + +THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789. + +_With Map, Notes, etc. Crown 8vo, $2.00._ + +The author combines in an unusual degree the impartiality of the trained +scholar with the fervor of the interested narrator.... The volume should +be in every library in the land.--_The Congregationalist_ (Boston). + +An admirable book.... Mr. Fiske has a great talent for making history +interesting to the general reader.--_New York Times_. + + +THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND; + +_Or, the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious +Liberty. Crown 8vo, $2.00._ + +It deals with the early colonial history of New England in the +entertaining and vivid style which has marked all of Mr. Fiske's +writings on American history, and it is distinguished, like them, by its +aggressive patriotism and its justice to all parties in controversy.... +The whole book is novel and fresh in treatment, philosophical and wise, +and will not be laid down till one has read the last page, and remains +impatient for what is still to come.--_Boston Post_. + + +THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. + +_In Riverside Library for Young People. With Maps. 16mo, 75 cents._ + +John Fiske's "War of Independence" is a miracle.... A book brilliant and +effective beyond measure.... It is a statement that every child can +comprehend, but that only a man of consummate genius could have +written.--Mrs. CAROLINE H. DALL, _in the Springfield Republican_. + +The story of the Revolution, as Mr. Fiske tells it, is one of surpassing +interest. His treatment is a marvel of clearness and comprehensiveness; +discarding non-essential details, he selects with a fine historic +instinct the main currents of history, traces them with the utmost +precision, and tells the whole story in a masterly fashion. His little +volume will be a text-book for older quite as much as for young +readers.--_Christian Union_ (New York). + + +OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY + +_Based on the Doctrine of Evolution, with Criticisms on the Positive +Philosophy. In two volumes. 8vo, $6.00._ + +"You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest with which I +have at last slowly read the whole of your work.... I never in my life +read so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are; and I +think that I understand nearly the whole, though perhaps less clearly +about cosmic theism and causation than other parts. It is hopeless to +attempt out of so much to specify what has interested me most, and +probably you would not care to hear. It pleased me to find that here and +there I had arrived, from my own crude thoughts, at some of the same +conclusions with you, though I could seldom or never have given my +reasons for such conclusions."--CHARLES DARWIN. + +This work of Mr. Fiske's may be not unfairly designated the most +important contribution yet made by America to philosophical +literature.--_The Academy_ (London). + + +DARWINISM, AND OTHER ESSAYS. + +If ever there was a spirit thoroughly invigorated by the "joy of right +understanding" it is that of the author of these pieces. Even the reader +catches something of his intellectual buoyancy, and is thus carried +almost lightly through discussions which would be hard and dry in the +hands of a less animated writer.... No less confident and serene than +his acceptance of the utmost logical results of recent scientific +discovery is Mr. Fiske's assurance that the foundations of spiritual +truths, so called, cannot possibly be shaken thereby.--_The Atlantic +Monthly_ (Boston). + + +THE UNSEEN WORLD, + +_And Other Essays. 12mo, $2.00._ + +To each study the writer seems to have brought, besides an excellent +quality of discriminating judgment, full and fresh special knowledge, +that enables him to supply much information on the subject, whatever it +may be, that is not to be found in the volume he is noticing. To the +knowledge, analytical power, and faculty of clear statement, that appear +in all these papers, Mr. Fiske adds a just independence of thought that +conciliates respectful consideration of his views, even when they are +most at variance with the commonly accepted ones.--_Boston Advertiser_. + + +EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST. + +_12mo, $2.00._ + +Among our thoughtful essayists there are none more brilliant than Mr. +John Fiske. His pure style suits his clear thought. He does not write +unless he has something to say; and when he does write he shows not only +that he has thoroughly acquainted himself with the subject but that he +has to a rare degree the art of so massing his matter as to bring out +the true value of the leading points in artistic relief. It is this +perspective which makes his work such agreeable reading even on abstruse +subjects, and has enabled him to play the same part in popularizing +Spencer in this country that Littre performed for Comte in France, and +Dumont for Bentham in England. The same qualities appear to good +advantage in his new volume, which contains his later essays on his +favorite subject of evolution.... They are well worth reperusal.--_The +Nation_ (New York). + + +MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS. + +_Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by Comparative Mythology. 12mo, +$2.00._ + +Mr. Fiske has given us a book which is at once sensible and attractive, +on a subject about which much is written that is crotchety or +tedious.--W.R.S. RALSTON, in _Athenaeum_ (London). + +A perusal of this thorough work cannot be too strongly recommended to +all who are interested in comparative mythology.--_Revue Critique_ +(Paris). + + +THE DESTINY OF MAN, + +_Viewed in the Light of his Origin. 16mo, gilt top, $1.00._ + +Mr. Fiske has given us in his "Destiny of Man" a most attractive +condensation of his views as expressed in his various other works. One +is charmed by the directness and clearness of his style, his simple and +pure English, and his evident knowledge of his subject.... Of one thing +we may be sure, that none are leading us more surely or rapidly to the +full truth than men like the author of this little book, who reverently +study the works of God for the lessons which he would teach his +children.--_Christian Union_ (New York). + + +THE IDEA OF GOD, + +_As Affected by Modern Knowledge. 16mo, gilt top, $1.00._ + +The charms of John Fiske's style are patent. The secrets of its fluency, +clearness, and beauty are secrets which many a maker of literary stuffs +has attempted to unravel, in order to weave like cloth-of-gold.... A +model for authors and a delight to readers.--_The Critic_ (New York). + +*** _For sale by all Booksellers. 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