{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17239/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17239","id":"gutenberg_17239","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17239","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Science - Biology","Human beings","Immortality"],"text":"Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE DESTINY OF MAN\n\nVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF HIS ORIGIN\n\n\nBY\n\n\nJOHN FISKE\n\n\n\nTWENTIETH EDITION.\n\n\nBOSTON\n\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY\n\n1893\n\n\n\nCopyright, 1884,\n\nBY JOHN FISKE.\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nMY CHILDREN,\n\nMAUD, HAROLD, CLARENCE, RALPH, ETHEL, AND HERBERT,\n\nThis Essay\n\n_IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nHaving been invited to give an address before the Concord School of\nPhilosophy this summer, upon some subject relating to the question of\nimmortality there under discussion, it seemed a proper occasion for\nputting together the following thoughts on the origin of Man and his\nplace in the universe. In dealing with the unknown, it is well to take\none's start a long way within the limits of the known. The question of a\nfuture life is generally regarded as lying outside the range of\nlegitimate scientific discussion. Yet while fully admitting this, one\ndoes not necessarily admit that the subject is one with regard to which\nwe are forever debarred from entertaining an opinion. Now our opinions\non such transcendental questions must necessarily be affected by the\ntotal mass of our opinions on the questions which lie within the scope\nof scientific inquiry; and from this point of view it becomes of\nsurpassing interest to trace the career of Humanity within that segment\nof the universe which is accessible to us. The teachings of the doctrine\nof evolution as to the origin and destiny of Man have, moreover, a very\ngreat speculative and practical value of their own, quite apart from\ntheir bearings upon any ultimate questions. The body of this essay is\naccordingly devoted to setting forth these teachings in what I conceive\nto be their true light; while their transcendental implications are\nreserved for the sequel.\n\nAs the essay contains an epitome of my own original contributions to the\ndoctrine of evolution, I have added at the end a short list of\nreferences to other works of mine, where the points here briefly\nmentioned are more fully argued and illustrated. The views regarding the\nprogress of human society, and the elimination of warfare, are set forth\nat greater length in a little book now in the press, and soon to appear,\nentitled \"American Political Ideas.\"\n\nPETERSHAM, September 6, 1884.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n     I. Man's Place in Nature as affected by the Copernican Theory.\n    II. As affected by Darwinism.\n   III. On the Earth there will never be a Higher Creature than Man.\n    IV. The Origin of Infancy.\n     V. The Dawning of Consciousness.\n    VI. Lengthening of Infancy and Concomitant Increase of Brain-Surface.\n   VII. Change in the Direction of the Working of Natural Selection.\n  VIII. Growing Predominance of the Psychical Life.\n    IX. The Origins of Society and of Morality.\n     X. Improvableness of Man.\n    XI. Universal Warfare of Primeval Men.\n   XII. First checked by the Beginnings of Industrial Civilisation.\n  XIII. Methods of Political Development, and Elimination of Warfare.\n   XIV. End of the Working of Natural Selection upon Man. Throwing off\n             the Brute-Inheritance.\n    XV. The Message of Christianity.\n   XVI. The Question as to a Future Life.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DESTINY OF MAN.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nMan's Place in Nature, as affected by the Copernican Theory.\n\n\nWhen we study the Divine Comedy of Dante--that wonderful book wherein\nall the knowledge and speculation, all the sorrows and yearnings, of the\nfar-off Middle Ages are enshrined in the glory of imperishable verse--we\nare brought face to face with a theory of the world and with ways of\nreasoning about the facts of nature which seem strange to us to-day, but\nfrom the influence of which we are not yet, and doubtless never shall\nbe, wholly freed. A cosmology grotesque enough in the light of later\nknowledge, yet wrought out no less carefully than the physical theories\nof Lucretius, is employed in the service of a theology cumbrous in its\nobsolete details, but resting upon fundamental truths which mankind can\nnever safely lose sight of. In the view of Dante and of that phase of\nhuman culture which found in him its clearest and sweetest voice, this\nearth, the fair home of man, was placed in the centre of a universe\nwherein all things were ordained for his sole behoof: the sun to give\nhim light and warmth, the stars in their courses to preside over his\nstrangely checkered destinies, the winds to blow, the floods to rise, or\nthe fiend of pestilence to stalk abroad over the land,--all for the\nblessing, or the warning, or the chiding, of the chief among God's\ncreatures, Man. Upon some such conception as this, indeed, all theology\nwould seem naturally to rest. Once dethrone Humanity, regard it as a\nmere local incident in an endless and aimless series of cosmical\nchanges, and you arrive at a doctrine which, under whatever specious\nname it may be veiled, is at bottom neither more nor less than Atheism.\nOn its metaphysical side Atheism is the denial of anything psychical in\nthe universe outside of human consciousness; and it is almost\ninseparably associated with the materialistic interpretation of human\nconsciousness as the ephemeral result of a fleeting collocation of\nparticles of matter. Viewed upon this side, it is easy to show that\nAtheism is very bad metaphysics, while the materialism which goes with\nit is utterly condemned by modern science.[1] But our feeling toward\nAtheism goes much deeper than the mere recognition of it as\nphilosophically untrue. The mood in which we condemn it is not at all\nlike the mood in which we reject the corpuscular theory of light or Sir\nG.C. Lewis's vagaries on the subject of Egyptian hieroglyphics. We are\nwont to look upon Atheism with unspeakable horror and loathing. Our\nmoral sense revolts against it no less than our intelligence; and this\nis because, on its practical side, Atheism would remove Humanity from\nits peculiar position in the world, and make it cast in its lot with the\ngrass that withers and the beasts that perish; and thus the rich and\nvaried life of the universe, in all the ages of its wondrous duration,\nbecomes deprived of any such element of purpose as can make it\nintelligible to us or appeal to our moral sympathies and religious\naspirations.\n\nAnd yet the first result of some of the grandest and most irrefragable\ntruths of modern science, when newly discovered and dimly comprehended,\nhas been to make it appear that Humanity must be rudely unseated from\nits throne in the world and made to occupy an utterly subordinate and\ntrivial position; and it is because of this mistaken view of their\nimport that the Church has so often and so bitterly opposed the teaching\nof such truths. With the advent of the Copernican astronomy the\nfunnel-shaped Inferno, the steep mountain of Purgatory crowned with its\nterrestrial paradise, and those concentric spheres of Heaven wherein\nbeatified saints held weird and subtle converse, all went their way to\nthe limbo prepared for the childlike fancies of untaught minds, whither\nHades and Valhalla had gone before them. In our day it is hard to\nrealize the startling effect of the discovery that Man does not dwell at\nthe centre of things, but is the denizen of an obscure and tiny speck of\ncosmical matter quite invisible amid the innumerable throng of flaming\nsuns that make up our galaxy. To the contemporaries of Copernicus the\nnew theory seemed to strike at the very foundations of Christian\ntheology. In a universe where so much had been made without discernible\nreference to Man, what became of that elaborate scheme of salvation\nwhich seemed to rest upon the assumption that the career of Humanity was\nthe sole object of God's creative forethought and fostering care? When\nwe bear this in mind, we see how natural and inevitable it was that the\nChurch should persecute such men as Galileo and Bruno. At the same time\nit is instructive to observe that, while the Copernican astronomy has\nbecome firmly established in spite of priestly opposition, the\nfoundations of Christian theology have not been shaken thereby. It is\nnot that the question which once so sorely puzzled men has ever been\nsettled, but that it has been outgrown. The speculative necessity for\nman's occupying the largest and most central spot in the universe is no\nlonger felt. It is recognized as a primitive and childish notion. With\nour larger knowledge we see that these vast and fiery suns are after all\nbut the Titan like _servants_ of the little planets which they bear with\nthem in their flight through the abysses of space. Out from the awful\ngaseous turmoil of the central mass dart those ceaseless waves of gentle\nradiance that, when caught upon the surface of whirling worlds like\nours, bring forth the endlessly varied forms and the endlessly complex\nmovements that make up what we can see of life. And as when God revealed\nhimself to his ancient prophet He came not in the earthquake or the\ntempest but in a voice that was still and small, so that divine spark\nthe Soul, as it takes up its brief abode in this realm of fleeting\nphenomena, chooses not the central sun where elemental forces forever\nblaze and clash, but selects an outlying terrestrial nook where seeds\nmay germinate in silence, and where through slow fruition the mysterious\nforms of organic life may come to take shape and thrive. He who thus\nlooks a little deeper into the secrets of nature than his forefathers of\nthe sixteenth century may well smile at the quaint conceit that man\ncannot be the object of God's care unless he occupies an immovable\nposition in the centre of the stellar universe.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nMan's Place in Nature, as affected by Darwinism.\n\n\nWhen the Copernican astronomy was finally established through the\ndiscoveries of Kepler and Newton, it might well have been pronounced the\ngreatest scientific achievement of the human mind; but it was still more\nthan that. It was the greatest revolution that had ever been effected in\nMan's views of his relations to the universe in which he lives, and of\nwhich he is--at least during the present life--a part. During the\nnineteenth century, however, a still greater revolution has been\neffected. Not only has Lyell enlarged our mental horizon in time as much\nas Newton enlarged it in space, but it appears that throughout these\nvast stretches of time and space with which we have been made acquainted\nthere are sundry well-marked changes going on. Certain definite paths of\ndevelopment are being pursued; and around us on every side we behold\nworlds, organisms, and societies in divers stages of progress or\ndecline. Still more, as we examine the records of past life upon our\nglobe, and study the mutual relations of the living things that still\nremain, it appears that the higher forms of life--including Man\nhimself--are the modified descendants of lower forms. Zooelogically\nspeaking, Man can no longer be regarded as a creature apart by himself.\nWe cannot erect an order on purpose to contain him, as Cuvier tried to\ndo; we cannot even make a separate family for him. Man is not only a\nvertebrate, a mammal, and a primate, but he belongs, as a genus, to the\ncatarrhine family of apes. And just as lions, leopards, and\nlynxes--different genera of the cat-family--are descended from a common\nstock of carnivora, back to which we may also trace the pedigrees of\ndogs, hyaenas, bears, and seals; so the various genera of platyrrhine and\ncatarrhine apes, including Man, are doubtless descended from a common\nstock of primates, back to which we may also trace the converging\npedigrees of monkeys and lemurs, until their ancestry becomes\nindistinguishable from that of rabbits and squirrels. Such is the\nconclusion to which the scientific world has come within a quarter of a\ncentury from the publication of Mr. Darwin's \"Origin of Species;\" and\nthere is no more reason for supposing that this conclusion will ever be\ngainsaid than for supposing that the Copernican astronomy will some time\nbe overthrown and the concentric spheres of Dante's heaven reinstated in\nthe minds of men.\n\nIt is not strange that this theory of man's origin, which we associate\nmainly with the name of Mr. Darwin, should be to many people very\nunwelcome. It is fast bringing about a still greater revolution in\nthought than that which was heralded by Copernicus; and it naturally\ntakes some time for the various portions of one's theory of things to\nbecome adjusted, one after another, to so vast and sweeping a change.\nFrom many quarters the cry goes up,--If this be true, then Man is at\nlength cast down from his high position in the world. \"I will not be\ncalled a mammal, or the son of a mammal!\" once exclaimed an acquaintance\nof mine who perhaps had been brought up by hand. Such expressions of\nfeeling are crude, but the feeling is not unjustifiable. It is urged\nthat if man is physically akin to a baboon, as pigs are akin to horses,\nand cows to deer, then Humanity can in nowise be regarded as occupying a\npeculiar place in the universe; it becomes a mere incident in an endless\nseries of changes, and how can we say that the same process of evolution\nthat has produced mankind may not by and by produce something far more\nperfect? There was a time when huge bird-like reptiles were the lords of\ncreation, and after these had been \"sealed within the iron hills\" there\ncame successive dynasties of mammals; and as the iguanodon gave place to\nthe great Eocene marsupials, as the mastodon and the sabre-toothed lion\nhave long since vanished from the scene, so may not Man by and by\ndisappear to make way for some higher creature, and so on forever? In\nsuch case, why should we regard Man as in any higher sense the object of\nDivine care than a pig? Still stronger does the case appear when we\nremember that those countless adaptations of means to ends in nature,\nwhich since the time of Voltaire and Paley we have been accustomed to\ncite as evidences of creative design, have received at the hands of Mr.\nDarwin a very different interpretation. The lobster's powerful claw, the\nbutterfly's gorgeous tints, the rose's delicious fragrance, the\narchitectural instinct of the bee, the astonishing structure of the\norchid, are no longer explained as the results of contrivance. That\nsimple but wasteful process of survival of the fittest, through which\nsuch marvellous things have come into being, has little about it that is\nanalogous to the ingenuity of human art. The infinite and eternal Power\nwhich is thus revealed in the physical life of the universe seems in\nnowise akin to the human soul. The idea of beneficent purpose seems for\nthe moment to be excluded from nature, and a blind process, known as\nNatural Selection, is the deity that slumbers not nor sleeps. Reckless\nof good and evil, it brings forth at once the mother's tender love for\nher infant and the horrible teeth of the ravening shark, and to its\ncreative indifference the one is as good as the other.\n\nIn spite of these appalling arguments the man of science, urged by the\nsingle-hearted purpose to ascertain the truth, be the consequences what\nthey may, goes quietly on and finds that the terrible theory must be\nadopted; the fact of man's consanguinity with dumb beasts must be\nadmitted. In reaching this conclusion, the man of science reasons upon\nthe physical facts within his reach, applying to them the same\nprinciples of common-sense whereby our everyday lives are successfully\nguided; and he is very apt to smile at the methods of those people who,\ntaking hold of the question at the wrong end, begin by arguing about all\nmanner of fancied consequences. For his knowledge of the history of\nhuman thinking assures him that such methods have through all past time\nproved barren of aught save strife, while his own bold yet humble method\nis the only one through which truth has ever been elicited. To pursue\nunflinchingly the methods of science requires dauntless courage and a\nfaith that nothing can shake. Such courage and such loyalty to nature\nbrings its own reward. For when once the formidable theory is really\nunderstood, when once its implications are properly unfolded, it is seen\nto have no such logical consequences as were at first ascribed to it. As\nwith the Copernican astronomy, so with the Darwinian biology, we rise to\na higher view of the workings of God and of the nature of Man than was\never attainable before. So far from degrading Humanity, or putting it on\na level with the animal world in general, the Darwinian theory shows us\ndistinctly for the first time how the creation and the perfecting of Man\nis the goal toward which Nature's work has all the while been tending.\nIt enlarges tenfold the significance of human life, places it upon even\na loftier eminence than poets or prophets have imagined, and makes it\nseem more than ever the chief object of that creative activity which is\nmanifested in the physical universe.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nOn the Earth there will never be a Higher Creature than Man.\n\n\nIn elucidating these points, we may fitly begin by considering the\nquestion as to the possibility of the evolution of any higher creature\nthan Man, to whom the dominion over this earth shall pass. The question\nwill best be answered by turning back and observing one of the most\nremarkable features connected with the origin of Man and with his\nsuperiority over other animals. And let it be borne in mind that we are\nnot now about to wander through the regions of unconditional\npossibility. We are not dealing with vague general notions of\ndevelopment, but with the scientific Darwinian theory, which alleges\ndevelopment only as the result of certain rigorously defined agencies.\nThe chief among these agencies is Natural Selection. It has again and\nagain been illustrated how by the cumulative selection and inheritance\nof slight physical variations generic differences, like those between\nthe tiger and the leopard, or the cow and the antelope, at length arise;\nand the guiding principle in the accumulation of slight physical\ndifferences has been the welfare of the species. The variant forms on\neither side have survived while the constant forms have perished, so\nthat the lines of demarcation between allied species have grown more and\nmore distinct, and it is usually only by going back to fossil ages that\nwe can supply the missing links of continuity. In the desperate struggle\nfor existence no peculiarity, physical or psychical, however slight, has\nbeen too insignificant for natural selection to seize and enhance; and\nthe myriad fantastic forms and hues of animal and vegetal life\nillustrate the seeming capriciousness of its workings. Psychical\nvariations have never been unimportant since the appearance of the first\nfaint pigment-spot which by and by was to translate touch into vision,\nas it developed into the lenses and humours of the eye.[2] Special\norgans of sense and the lower grades of perception and judgment were\nslowly developed through countless ages, in company with purely physical\nvariations of shape of foot, or length of neck, or complexity of\nstomach, or thickness of hide. At length there came a wonderful\nmoment--silent and unnoticed, as are the beginnings of all great\nrevolutions. Silent and unnoticed, even as the day of the Lord which\ncometh like a thief in the night, there arrived that wonderful moment at\nwhich psychical changes began to be of more use than physical changes to\nthe brute ancestor of Man. Through further ages of ceaseless struggle\nthe profitable variations in this creature occurred oftener and oftener\nin the brain, and less often in other parts of the organism, until by\nand by the size of his brain had been doubled and its complexity of\nstructure increased a thousand-fold, while in other respects his\nappearance was not so very different from that of his brother apes.[3]\nAlong with this growth of the brain, the complete assumption of the\nupright posture, enabling the hands to be devoted entirely to prehension\nand thus relieving the jaws of that part of their work, has cooeperated\nin producing that peculiar contour of head and face which is the chief\ndistinguishing mark of physical Man. These slight anatomical changes\nderive their importance entirely from the prodigious intellectual\nchanges in connection with which they have been produced; and these\nintellectual changes have been accumulated until the distance,\npsychically speaking, between civilized man and the ape is so great as\nto dwarf in comparison all that had been achieved in the process of\nevolution down to the time of our half-human ancestor's first\nappearance. No fact in nature is fraught with deeper meaning than this\ntwo-sided fact of the extreme physical similarity and enormous psychical\ndivergence between Man and the group of animals to which he traces his\npedigree. It shows that when Humanity began to be evolved an entirely\nnew chapter in the history of the universe was opened. Henceforth the\nlife of the nascent soul came to be first in importance, and the bodily\nlife became subordinated to it. Henceforth it appeared that, in this\ndirection at least, the process of zooelogical change had come to an end,\nand a process of psychological change was to take its place. Henceforth\nalong this supreme line of generation there was to be no further\nevolution of new species through physical variation, but through the\naccumulation of psychical variations one particular species was to be\nindefinitely perfected and raised to a totally different plane from that\non which all life had hitherto existed. Henceforth, in short, the\ndominant aspect of evolution was to be not the genesis of species, but\nthe progress of Civilization.\n\nAs we thoroughly grasp the meaning of all this, we see that upon the\nDarwinian theory it is impossible that any creature zoologically\ndistinct from Man and superior to him should ever at any future time\nexist upon the earth. In the regions of unconditional possibility it is\nopen to any one to argue, if he chooses, that such a creature may come\nto exist; but the Darwinian theory is utterly opposed to any such\nconclusion. According to Darwinism, the creation of Man is still the\ngoal toward which Nature tended from the beginning. Not the production\nof any higher creature, but the perfecting of Humanity, is to be the\nglorious consummation of Nature's long and tedious work. Thus we\nsuddenly arrive at the conclusion that Man seems now, much more clearly\nthan ever, the chief among God's creatures. On the primitive barbaric\ntheory, which Mr. Darwin has swept away, Man was suddenly flung into the\nworld by the miraculous act of some unseen and incalculable Power acting\nfrom without; and whatever theology might suppose, no scientific reason\ncould be alleged why the same incalculable Power might not at some\nfuture moment, by a similar miracle, thrust upon the scene some mightier\ncreature in whose presence Man would become like a sorry beast of\nburden. But he who has mastered the Darwinian theory, he who recognizes\nthe slow and subtle process of evolution as the way in which God makes\nthings come to pass, must take afar higher view. He sees that in the\ndeadly struggle for existence which has raged throughout countless aeons\nof time, the whole creation has been groaning and travailing together in\norder to bring forth that last consummate specimen of God's handiwork,\nthe Human Soul.\n\nTo the creature thus produced through a change in the direction in which\nnatural selection has worked, the earth and most of its living things\nhave become gradually subordinated. In all the classes of the animal and\nvegetal worlds many ancient species have become extinct, and many modern\nspecies have come into being, through the unchecked working of natural\nselection, since Man became distinctively human. But in this respect a\nchange has long been coming over the face of nature. The destinies of\nall other living things are more and more dependent upon the will of\nMan. It rests with him to determine, to a great degree, what plants and\nanimals shall remain upon the earth and what shall be swept from its\nsurface. By unconsciously imitating the selective processes of Nature,\nhe long ago wrought many wild species into forms subservient to his\nneeds. He has created new varieties of fruit and flower and cereal\ngrass, and has reared new breeds of animals to aid him in the work of\ncivilization; until at length he is beginning to acquire a mastery over\nmechanical and molecular and chemical forces which is doubtless destined\nin the future to achieve marvellous results whereof today we little\ndream. Natural selection itself will by and by occupy a subordinate\nplace in comparison with selection by Man, whose appearance on the earth\nis thus seen more clearly than ever to have opened an entirely new\nchapter in the mysterious history of creation.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nThe Origin of Infancy.\n\n\nBut before we can fully understand the exalted position which the\nDarwinian theory assigns to man, another point demands consideration.\nThe natural selection of psychical peculiarities does not alone account\nfor the origin of Man, or explain his most signal difference from all\nother animals. That difference is unquestionably a difference in kind,\nbut in saying this one must guard against misunderstanding. Not only in\nthe world of organic life, but throughout the known universe, the\ndoctrine of evolution regards differences in kind as due to the gradual\naccumulation of differences in degree. To cite a very simple case, what\ndifferences of kind can be more striking than the differences between a\nnebula, a sun, a planet like the earth, and a planet like our moon? Yet\nthese things are simply examples of cosmical matter at four different\nstages of cooling. The physical differences between steam, water, and\nice afford a more familiar example. In the organic world the perpetual\nmodification of structures that has been effected through natural\nselection exhibits countless instances of differences in kind which have\nrisen from the accumulation of differences in degree. No one would\nhesitate to call a horse's hoof different in kind from a cat's paw; and\nyet the horse's lower leg and hoof are undoubtedly developed from a\nfive-toed paw. The most signal differences in kind are wont to arise\nwhen organs originally developed for a certain purpose come to be\napplied to a very different purpose, as that change of the fish's\nair-bladder into a lung which accompanied the first development of land\nvertebrates. But still greater becomes the revolution when a certain\nprocess goes on Until it sets going a number of other processes,\nunlocking series after series of causal agencies until a vast and\ncomplicated result is reached, such as could by no possibility have been\nforeseen. The creation of Man was one of these vast and complicated\nresults due to the unlocking of various series of causal agencies; and\nit was the beginning of a deeper and mightier difference in kind than\nany that slowly evolving Nature had yet witnessed.\n\nI have indicated, as the moment at which the creation of mankind began,\nthe moment when psychical variations became of so much more use to our\nancestors than physical variations that they were seized and enhanced by\nnatural selection, to the comparative neglect of the latter. Increase of\nintellectual capacity, in connection with the developing brain of a\nsingle race of creatures, now became the chief work of natural selection\nin originating Man; and this, I say, was the opening of a new chapter,\nthe last and most wonderful chapter, in the history of creation. But the\nincreasing intelligence and enlarged experience of half-human man now\nset in motion a new series of changes which greatly complicated the\nmatter. In order to understand these changes, we must consider for a\nmoment one very important characteristic of developing intelligence.\n\nThe simplest actions in which the nervous system is concerned are what\nwe call reflex actions. All the visceral actions which keep us alive\nfrom moment to moment, the movements of the heart and lungs, the\ncontractions of arteries, the secretions of glands, the digestive\noperations of the stomach and liver, belong to the class of reflex\nactions. Throughout the animal world these acts are repeated, with\nlittle or no variation, from birth until death, and the tendency to\nperform them is completely organized in the nervous system before birth.\nEvery animal breathes and digests as well at the beginning of his life\nas he ever does. Contact with air and food is all that is needed, and\nthere is nothing to be learned. These actions, though they are performed\nby the nervous system, we do not class as psychical, because they are\nnearly or quite unattended by consciousness. The psychical life of the\nlowest animals consists of a few simple acts directed toward the\nsecuring of food and the avoidance of danger, and these acts we are in\nthe habit of classing as instinctive. They are so simple, so few, and so\noften repeated, that the tendency to perform them is completely\norganized in the nervous system before birth. The animal takes care of\nhimself as soon as he begins to live. He has nothing to learn, and his\ncareer is a simple repetition of the careers of countless ancestors.\nWith him heredity is everything, and his individual experience is next\nto nothing.\n\nAs we ascend the animal scale till we come to the higher birds and\nmammals, we find a very interesting and remarkable change beginning. The\ngeneral increase of intelligence involves an increasing variety and\ncomplication of experiences. The acts which the animal performs in the\ncourse of its life become far more numerous, far more various, and far\nmore complex. They are therefore severally repeated with less frequency\nin the lifetime of each individual. Consequently the tendency to perform\nthem is not completely organized in the nervous system of the offspring\nbefore birth. The short period of ante-natal existence does not afford\ntime enough for the organization of so many and such complex habitudes\nand capacities. The process which in the lower animals is completed\nbefore birth is in the higher animals left to be completed after birth.\nWhen the creature begins its life it is not completely organized.\nInstead of the power of doing all the things which its parents did, it\nstarts with the power of doing only some few of them; for the rest it\nhas only latent capacities which need to be brought out by its\nindividual experience after birth. In other words, it begins its\nseparate life not as a matured creature, but as an infant which needs\nfor a time to be watched and helped.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nThe Dawning of Consciousness.\n\n\nHere we arrive at one of the most wonderful moments in the history of\ncreation,--the moment of the first faint dawning of consciousness, the\nforeshadowing of the true life of the soul. Whence came the soul we no\nmore know than we know whence came the universe. The primal origin of\nconsciousness is hidden in the depths of the bygone eternity. That it\ncannot possibly be the product of any cunning arrangement of material\nparticles is demonstrated beyond peradventure by what we now know of the\ncorrelation of physical forces.[4] The Platonic view of the soul, as a\nspiritual substance, an effluence from Godhood, which under certain\nconditions becomes incarnated in perishable forms of matter, is\ndoubtless the view most consonant with the present state of our\nknowledge. Yet while we know not the primal origin of the soul, we have\nlearned something with regard to the conditions under which it has\nbecome incarnated in material forms. Modern psychology has something to\nsay about the dawning of conscious life in the animal world. Reflex\naction is unaccompanied by consciousness. The nervous actions which\nregulate the movements of the viscera go on without our knowledge; we\nlearn of their existence only by study, as we learn of facts in outward\nnature. If you tickle the foot of a person asleep, and the foot is\nwithdrawn by simple reflex action, the sleeper is unconscious alike of\nthe irritation and of the movement, even as the decapitated frog is\nunconscious when a drop of nitric acid falls on his back and he lifts up\na leg and rubs the place. In like manner the reflex movements which make\nup the life of the lowest animals are doubtless quite unconscious, even\nwhen in their general character they simulate conscious actions, as they\noften do. In the case of such creatures, the famous hypothesis of\nDescartes, that animals are automata, is doubtless mainly correct. In\nthe case of instincts also, where the instinctive actions are completely\norganized before birth, and are repeated without variation during the\nwhole lifetime of the individual, there is probably little if any\nconsciousness. It is an essential prerequisite of consciousness that\nthere should be a period of delay or tension between the receipt of an\nimpression and the determination of the consequent movement. Diminish\nthis period of delay and you diminish the vividness of consciousness. A\nfamiliar example will make this clear. When you are learning to play a\nnew piece of music on the piano, especially if you do not read music\nrapidly, you are intensely conscious of each group of notes on the page,\nand of each group of keys that you strike, and of the relations of the\none to the other. But when you have learned the piece by heart, you\nthink nothing of either notes or keys, but play automatically while your\nattention is concentrated upon the artistic character of the music. If\nsomebody thoughtlessly interrupts you with a question about Egyptian\npolitics, you go on playing while you answer him politely. That is,\nwhere you had at first to make a conscious act of volition for each\nmovement, the whole group of movements has now become automatic, and\nvolition is only concerned in setting the process going. As the delay\ninvolved in the perception and the movement disappears, so does the\nconsciousness of the perception and the movement tend to disappear.\nConsciousness implies perpetual discrimination, or the recognition of\nlikenesses and differences, and this is impossible unless impressions\npersist long enough to be compared with one another. The physical organs\nin connection with whose activity consciousness is manifested are the\nupper and outer parts of the brain,--the cerebrum and cerebellum. These\norgans never receive impressions directly from the outside world, but\nonly from lower nerve-centres, such as the spinal cord, the medulla, the\noptic lobes, and other special centres of sensation. The impressions\nreceived by the cerebrum and cerebellum are waves of molecular\ndisturbance sent up along centripetal nerves from the lower centres, and\npresently drafted off along centrifugal nerves back to the lower\ncentres, thus causing the myriad movements which make up our active\nlife. Now there is no consciousness except when molecular disturbance is\ngenerated in the cerebrum and cerebellum faster than it can be drafted\noff to the lower centres.[5] It is the surplus of molecular disturbance\nremaining in the cerebrum and cerebellum, and reflected back and forth\namong the cells and fibres of which these highest centres are composed,\nthat affords the physical condition for the manifestation of\nconsciousness. Memory, emotion, reason, and volition begin with this\nretention of a surplus of molecular motion in the highest centres. As we\nsurvey the vertebrate sub-kingdom of animals, we find that as this\nsurplus increases, the surface of the highest centres increases in area.\nIn the lowest vertebrate animal, the amphioxus, the cerebrum and\ncerebellum do not exist at all. In fishes we begin to find them, but\nthey are much smaller than the optic lobes. In such a highly organized\nfish as the halibut, which weighs about as much as an average-sized man,\nthe cerebrum is smaller than a melon-seed. Continuing to grow by adding\nconcentric layers at the surface, the cerebrum and cerebellum become\nmuch larger in birds and lower mammals, gradually covering up the optic\nlobes. As we pass to higher mammalian forms, the growth of the cerebrum\nbecomes most conspicuous, until it extends backwards so far as to cover\nup the cerebellum, whose functions are limited to the conscious\nadjustment of muscular movements. In the higher apes the cerebrum begins\nto extend itself forwards, and this goes on in the human race. The\ncranial capacity of the European exceeds that of the Australian by forty\ncubic inches, or nearly four times as much as that by which the\nAustralian exceeds the gorilla; and the expansion is almost entirely in\nthe upper and anterior portions. But the increase of the cerebral\nsurface is shown not only in the general size of the organ, but to a\nstill greater extent in the irregular creasing and furrowing of the\nsurface. This creasing and furrowing begins to occur in the higher\nmammals, and in civilized man it is carried to an astonishing extent.\nThe amount of intelligence is correlated with the number, the depth, and\nthe irregularity of the furrows. A cat's brain has a few symmetrical\ncreases. In an ape the creases are deepened into slight furrows, and\nthey run irregularly, somewhat like the lines in the palm of your hand.\nWith age and experience the furrows grow deeper and more sinuous, and\nnew ones appear; and in man these phenomena come to have great\nsignificance. The cerebral surface of a human infant is like that of an\nape. In an adult savage, or in a European peasant, the furrowing is\nsomewhat marked and complicated. In the brain of a great scholar, the\nfurrows are very deep and crooked, and hundreds of creases appear which\nare not found at all in the brains of ordinary men. In other words, the\ncerebral surface of such a man, the seat of conscious mental life, has\nbecome enormously enlarged in area; and we must further observe that it\ngoes on enlarging in some cases into extreme old age.[6]\n\nPutting all these facts together, it becomes plain that in the lowest\nanimals, whose lives consist of sundry reflex actions monotonously\nrepeated from generation to generation, there can be nothing, or next to\nnothing, of what we know as consciousness. It is only when the life\nbecomes more complicated and various, so that reflex action can no\nlonger determine all its movements and the higher nerve-centres begin to\nbe evolved, that the dawning of consciousness is reached. But with the\ngrowth of the higher centres the capacities of action become so various\nand indeterminate that definite direction is not given to them until\nafter birth. The creature begins life as an infant, with its partially\ndeveloped cerebrum representing capabilities which it is left for its\nindividual experience to bring forth and modify.\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nLengthening of Infancy, and Concomitant Increase of Brain-Surface.\n\n\nThe first appearance of infancy in the animal world thus heralded the\nnew era which was to be crowned by the development of Man. With the\nbeginnings of infancy there came the first dawning of a conscious life\nsimilar in nature to the conscious life of human beings, and there came,\nmoreover, on the part of parents, the beginning of feelings and actions\nnot purely self-regarding. But still more, the period of infancy was a\nperiod of plasticity. The career of each individual being no longer\nwholly predetermined by the careers of its ancestors, it began to become\nteachable. Individuality of character also became possible at the same\ntime, and for the same reason. All birds and mammals which take care of\ntheir young are teachable, though in very various degrees, and all in\nlike manner show individual peculiarities of disposition, though in most\ncases these are slight and inconspicuous. In dogs, horses, and apes\nthere is marked teachableness, and there are also marked differences in\nindividual character.\n\nBut in the non-human animal world all these phenomena are but slightly\ndeveloped. They are but the dim adumbrations of what was by and by to\nbloom forth in the human race. They can scarcely be said to have served\nas a prophecy of the revolution that was to come. One generation of dumb\nbeasts is after all very like another, and from studying the careers of\nthe mastodon, the hipparion, the sabre-toothed lion, or even the\ndryopithecus, an observer in the Miocene age could never have foreseen\nthe possibility of a creature endowed with such a boundless capacity of\nprogress as the modern Man. Nevertheless, however dimly suggestive was\nthis group of phenomena, it contained the germ of all that is preeminent\nin humanity. In the direct line of our ancestry it only needed that the\nperiod of infancy should be sufficiently prolonged, in order that a\ncreature should at length appear, endowed with the teachableness, the\nindividuality, and the capacity for progress which are the peculiar\nprerogatives of fully-developed Man.[7] In this direct line the manlike\napes of Africa and the Indian Archipelago have advanced far beyond the\nmammalian world in general. Along with a cerebral surface, and an\naccompanying intelligence, far greater than that of other mammals, these\ntailless apes begin life as helpless babies, and are unable to walk, to\nfeed themselves, or to grasp objects with precision until they are two\nor three months old. These apes have thus advanced a little way upon the\npeculiar road which our half-human forefathers began to travel as soon\nas psychical variations came to be of more use to the species than\nvariations in bodily structure. The gulf by which the lowest known man\nis separated from the highest known ape consists in the great increase\nof his cerebral surface, with the accompanying intelligence, and in the\nvery long duration of his infancy. These two things have gone hand in\nhand. The increase of cerebral surface, due to the working of natural\nselection in this direction alone, has entailed a vast increase in the\namount of cerebral organization that must be left to be completed after\nbirth, and thus has prolonged the period of infancy. And conversely the\nprolonging of the plastic period of infancy, entailing a vast increase\nin teachableness and versatility, has contributed to the further\nenlargement of the cerebral surface. The mutual reaction of these two\ngroups of facts must have gone on for an enormous length of time since\nman began thus diverging from his simian brethren. It is not likely that\nless than a million years have elapsed since the first page of this new\nchapter in the history of creation was opened: it is probable that the\ntime has been much longer. In comparison with such a period, the whole\nrecorded duration of human history shrinks into nothingness. The\npyramids of Egypt seem like things of yesterday when we think of the\nCave-Men of western Europe in the glacial period, who scratched pictures\nof mammoths on pieces of reindeer-antler with a bit of pointed flint.\nYet during an entire geologic aeon before these Cave-Men appeared on the\nscene, \"a being erect upon two legs,\" if we may quote from Serjeant\nBuzfuz, \"and wearing the outward semblance of a man and not of a\nmonster,\" wandered hither and thither over the face of the earth,\nsetting his mark upon it as no other creature yet had done, leaving\nbehind him innumerable tell-tale remnants of his fierce and squalid\nexistence, yet too scantily endowed with wit to make any written\ndisclosure of his thoughts and deeds. If the physiological annals of\nthat long and weary time could now be unrolled before us, the principal\nfact which we should discern, dominating all other facts in interest and\nsignificance, would be that mutual reaction between increase of cerebral\nsurface and lengthening of babyhood which I have here described.\n\nThus through the simple continuance and interaction of processes that\nbegan far back in the world of warm-blooded animals, we get at last a\ncreature essentially different from all others. Through the complication\nof effects the heaping up of minute differences in degree has ended in\nbringing forth a difference in kind. In the human organism physical\nvariation has well-nigh stopped, or is confined to insignificant\nfeatures, save in the grey surface of the cerebrum. The work of cerebral\norganization is chiefly completed after birth, as we see by contrasting\nthe smooth ape-like brain-surface of the new-born child with the\ndeeply-furrowed and myriad-seamed surface of the adult civilized brain.\nThe plastic period of adolescence, lengthened in civilized man until it\nhas come to cover more than one third of his lifetime, is thus the\nguaranty of his boundless progressiveness. Inherited tendencies and\naptitudes still form the foundations of character; but individual\nexperience has come to count as an enormous factor in modifying the\ncareer of mankind from generation to generation. It is not too much to\nsay that the difference between man and all other living creatures, in\nrespect of teachableness, progressiveness, and individuality of\ncharacter, surpasses all other differences of kind that are known to\nexist in the universe.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nChange in the Direction of the Working of Natural Selection.\n\n\nIn the fresh light which these considerations throw upon the problem of\nman's origin, we can now see more clearly than ever how great a\nrevolution was inaugurated when natural selection began to confine its\noperations to the surface of the cerebrum. Among the older incidents in\nthe evolution of organic life, the changes were very wonderful which out\nof the pectoral fin of a fish developed the jointed fore-limb of the\nmammal with its five-toed paw, and thence through much slighter\nvariation brought forth the human arm with its delicate and crafty hand.\nMore wondrous still were the phases of change through which the\nrudimentary pigment-spot of the worm, by the development and\ndifferentiation of successive layers, gave place to the\nvariously-constructed eyes of insects, mollusks, and vertebrates. The\nday for creative work of this sort has probably gone by, as the day for\nthe evolution of annulose segments and vertebrate skeletons has gone\nby,--on our planet, at least. In the line of our own development, all\nwork of this kind stopped long ago, to be replaced by different methods.\nAs an optical instrument, the eye had well-nigh reached extreme\nperfection in many a bird and mammal ages before man's beginnings; and\nthe essential features of the human hand existed already in the hands of\nMiocene apes. But different methods came in when human intelligence\nappeared upon the scene. Mr. Spencer has somewhere reminded us that the\ncrowbar is but an extra lever added to the levers of which the arm is\nalready composed, and the telescope but adds a new set of lenses to\nthose which already exist in the eye. This beautiful illustration goes\nto the kernel of the change that was wrought when natural selection\nbegan to confine itself to the psychical modification of our ancestors.\nIn a very deep sense all human science is but the increment of the power\nof the eye, and all human art is the increment of the power of the\nhand.[8] Vision and manipulation,--these, in their countless indirect\nand transfigured forms, are the two cooeperating factors in all\nintellectual progress. It is not merely that with the telescope we see\nextinct volcanoes on the moon, or resolve spots of nebulous cloud into\nclusters of blazing suns; it is that in every scientific theory we frame\nby indirect methods visual images of things not present to sense. With\nour mind's eye we see atmospheric convulsions on the surfaces of distant\nworlds, watch the giant ichthyosaurs splashing in Jurassic oceans,\nfollow the varied figures of the rhythmic dance of molecules as chemical\nelements unite and separate, or examine, with the aid of long-forgotten\nvocabularies now magically restored, the manners and morals, the laws\nand superstitions, of peoples that have ceased to be.[9] And so in art\nthe wonderful printing-press, and the engine that moves it, are the\nlineal descendants through countless stages of complication, of the\nsimple levers of primitive man and the rude stylus wherewith he engraved\nstrange hieroglyphs on the bark of trees. In such ways, since the human\nphase of evolution began, has the direct action of muscle and sense been\nsupplemented and superseded by the indirect work of the inquisitive and\ninventive mind.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nGrowing Predominance of the Psychical Life.\n\n\nLet us note one further aspect of this mighty revolution. In its lowly\nbeginnings the psychical life was merely an appendage to the life of the\nbody. The avoidance of enemies, the securing of food, the perpetuation\nof the species, make up the whole of the lives of lower animals, and the\nrudiments of memory, reason, emotion, and volition were at first\nconcerned solely with the achievement of these ends in an increasingly\nindirect, complex, and effective way. Though the life of a large portion\nof the human race is still confined to the pursuit of these same ends,\nyet so vast has been the increase of psychical life that the simple\ncharacter of the ends is liable to be lost sight of amid the variety,\nthe indirectness, and the complexity of the means. But in civilized\nsociety other ends, purely immaterial in their nature, have come to add\nthemselves to these, and in some instances to take their place. It is\nlong since we were told that Man does not live by bread alone. During\nmany generations we have seen thousands of men, actuated by the noblest\nimpulse of which humanity is capable, though misled by the teachings of\na crude philosophy, despising and maltreating their bodies as clogs and\nincumbrances to the life of the indwelling soul. Countless martyrs we\nhave seen throwing away the physical earthly life as so much worthless\ndross, and all for the sake of purely spiritual truths. As with\nreligion, so with the scientific spirit and the artistic spirit,--the\nunquenchable craving to know the secrets of nature, and the yearning to\ncreate the beautiful in form and colour and sound. In the highest human\nbeings such ends as these have come to be uppermost in consciousness,\nand with the progress of material civilization this will be more and\nmore the case. If we can imagine a future time when warfare and crime\nshall have been done away with forever, when disease shall have been for\nthe most part curbed, and when every human being by moderate labour can\nsecure ample food and shelter, we can also see that in such a state of\nthings the work of civilization would be by no means completed. In\nministering to human happiness in countless ways, through the pursuit of\npurely spiritual ends, in enriching and diversifying life to the utmost,\nthere would still be almost limitless work to be done. I believe that\nsuch a time will come for weary and suffering mankind. Such a faith is\ninspiring. It sustains one in the work of life, when one would otherwise\nlose heart. But it is a faith that rests upon induction. The process of\nevolution is excessively slow, and its ends are achieved at the cost of\nenormous waste of life, but for innumerable ages its direction has been\ntoward the goal here pointed out; and the case may be fitly summed up in\nthe statement that whereas in its rude beginnings the psychical life was\nbut an appendage to the body, in fully-developed Humanity the body is\nbut the vehicle for the soul.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nThe Origins of Society and of Morality.\n\n\nOne further point must be considered before this outline sketch of the\nmanner of man's origin can be called complete. The psychical development\nof Humanity, since its earlier stages, has been largely clue to the\nreaction of individuals upon one another in those various relations\nwhich we characterize as social.[10] In considering the origin of Man,\nthe origin of human society cannot be passed over. Foreshadowings of\nsocial relations occur in the animal world, not only in the line of our\nown vertebrate ancestry, but in certain orders of insects which stand\nquite remote from that line. Many of the higher mammals are gregarious,\nand this is especially true of that whole order of primates to which we\nbelong. Rudimentary moral sentiments are also clearly discernible in the\nhighest members of various mammalian orders, and in all but the lowest\nmembers of our own order. But in respect of definiteness and permanence\nthe relations between individuals in a state of gregariousness fall far\nshort of the relations between individuals in the rudest human society.\nThe primordial unit of human society is the family, and it was by the\nestablishment of definite and permanent family relationships that the\nstep was taken which raised Man socially above the level of gregarious\napehood. This great point was attained through that lengthening of the\nperiod of helpless childhood which accompanied the gradually increasing\nintelligence of our half-human ancestors. When childhood had come to\nextend over a period of ten or a dozen years--a period which would be\ndoubled, or more than doubled, where several children were born in\nsuccession to the same parents--the relationships between father and\nmother, brethren and sisters, must have become firmly knit; and thus the\nfamily, the unit of human society, gradually came into existence.[11]\nThe rudimentary growth of moral sentiment must now have received a\ndefinite direction. As already observed, with the beginnings of infancy\nin the animal world there came the genesis in the parents of feelings\nand actions not purely self-regarding. Rudimentary sympathies, with\nrudimentary capacity for self-devotion, are witnessed now and then among\nhigher mammals, such as the dog, and not uncommonly among apes. But as\nthe human family, with its definite relationships, came into being,\nthere must necessarily have grown up between its various members\nreciprocal necessities of behaviour. The conduct of the individual could\nno longer be shaped with sole reference to his own selfish desires, but\nmust be to a great extent subordinated to the general welfare of the\nfamily. And in judging of the character of his own conduct, the\nindividual must now begin to refer it to some law of things outside of\nhimself; and hence the germs of conscience and of the idea of duty. Such\nwere no doubt the crude beginnings of human morality.\n\nWith this genesis of the family, the Creation of Man may be said, in a\ncertain sense, to have been completed. The great extent of cerebral\nsurface, the lengthened period of infancy, the consequent capacity for\nprogress, the definite constitution of the family, and the judgment of\nactions as good or bad according to some other standard than that of\nselfish desire,--these are the attributes which essentially distinguish\nMan from other creatures. All these, we see, are direct or indirect\nresults of the revolution which began when natural selection came to\nconfine itself to psychical variations, to the neglect of physical\nvariations. The immediate result was the increase of cerebrum. This\nprolonged the infancy, thus giving rise to the capacity for progress;\nand infancy, in turn, originated the family and thus opened the way for\nthe growth of sympathies and of ethical feelings. All these results have\nperpetually reacted upon one another until a creature different in kind\nfrom all other creatures has been evolved. The creature thus evolved\nlong since became dominant over the earth in a sense in which none of\nhis predecessors ever became dominant; and henceforth the work of\nevolution, so far as our planet is concerned, is chiefly devoted to the\nperfecting of this last and most wonderful product of creative energy.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nImprovableness of Man.\n\n\nFor the creation of Man was by no means the creation of a perfect being.\nThe most essential feature of Man is his improvableness, and since his\nfirst appearance on the earth the changes that have gone on in him have\nbeen enormous, though they have continued to run along in the lines of\ndevelopment that were then marked out. The changes have been so great\nthat in many respects the interval between the highest and the lowest\nmen far surpasses quantitatively the interval between the lowest men and\nthe highest apes. If we take into account the creasing of the cerebral\nsurface, the difference between the brain of a Shakespeare and that of\nan Australian savage would doubtless be fifty times greater than the\ndifference between the Australian's brain and that of an orang-outang.\nIn mathematical capacity the Australian, who cannot tell the number of\nfingers on his two hands, is much nearer to a lion or wolf than to Sir\nRowan Hamilton, who invented the method of quaternions. In moral\ndevelopment this same Australian, whose language contains no words for\njustice and benevolence, is less remote from dogs and baboons than from\na Howard or a Garrison. In progressiveness, too, the difference between\nthe lowest and the highest races of men is no less conspicuous. The\nAustralian is more teachable than the ape, but his limit is nevertheless\nvery quickly reached. All the distinctive attributes of Man, in short,\nhave been developed to an enormous extent through long ages of social\nevolution.\n\nThis psychical development of Man is destined to go on in the future as\nit has gone on in the past. The creative energy which has been at work\nthrough the bygone eternity is not going to become quiescent to-morrow.\nWe have learned something of its methods of working, and from the\ncareful observation of the past we can foresee the future in some of its\nmost general outlines. From what has already gone on during the historic\nperiod of man's existence, we can safely predict a change that will by\nand by distinguish him from all other creatures even more widely and\nmore fundamentally than he is distinguished today. Whenever in the\ncourse of organic evolution we see any function beginning as incidental\nto the performance of other functions, and continuing for many ages to\nincrease in importance until it becomes an indispensable strand in the\nweb of life, we may be sure that by a continuance of the same process\nits influence is destined to increase still more in the future. Such has\nbeen the case with the function of sympathy, and with the ethical\nfeelings which have grown up along with sympathy and depend largely upon\nit for their vitality. Like everything else which especially\ndistinguishes Man, the altruistic feelings were first called into\nexistence through the first beginnings of infancy in the animal world.\nTheir rudimentary form was that of the transient affection of a female\nbird or mammal for its young. First given a definite direction through\nthe genesis of the primitive human family, the development of altruism\nhas formed an important part of the progress of civilization, but as yet\nit has scarcely kept pace with the general development of intelligence.\nThere can be little doubt that in respect of justice and kindness the\nadvance of civilized man has been less marked than in respect of\nquick-wittedness. Now this is because the advancement of civilized man\nhas been largely effected through fighting, through the continuance of\nthat deadly struggle and competition which has been going on ever since\norganic life first appeared on the earth. It is through such fierce and\nperpetual struggle that the higher forms of life have been gradually\nevolved by natural selection. But we have already seen how in many\nrespects the evolution of Man was the opening of an entirely new chapter\nin the history of the universe. In no respect was it more so than in the\ngenesis of the altruistic emotions. For when natural selection, through\nthe lengthening of childhood, had secured a determinate development for\nthis class of human feelings, it had at last originated a power which\ncould thrive only through the elimination of strife. And the later\nhistory of mankind, during the past thirty centuries, has been\ncharacterized by the gradual eliminating of strife, though the process\nhas gone on with the extreme slowness that marks all the work of\nevolution. It is only at the present clay that, by surveying human\nhistory from the widest possible outlook, and with the aid of the habits\nof thought which the study of evolution fosters, we are enabled\ndistinctly to observe this tendency. As this is the most wonderful of\nall the phases of that stupendous revolution in nature which was\ninaugurated in the Creation of Man, it deserves especial attention here;\nand we shall find it leading us quite directly to our conclusion. From\nthe Origin of Man, when thoroughly comprehended in its general outlines,\nwe shall at length be able to catch some glimpses of his Destiny.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nUniversal Warfare of Primeval Men.\n\n\nIn speaking of the higher altruistic feelings as being antagonistic to\nthe continuance of warfare, I did not mean to imply that warfare can\never be directly put down by our horror of cruelty or our moral\ndisapproval of strife. The actual process is much more indirect and\ncomplex than this. In respect of belligerency the earliest men were\ndoubtless no better than brutes. They were simply the most crafty and\nformidable among brutes. To get food was the prime necessity of life,\nand as long as food was obtainable only by hunting and fishing, or\notherwise seizing upon edible objects already in existence, chronic and\nuniversal quarrel was inevitable. The conditions of the struggle for\nexistence were not yet visibly changed from what they had been from the\noutset in the animal world. That struggle meant everlasting slaughter,\nand the fiercest races of fighters would be just the ones to survive and\nperpetuate their kind. Those most successful primitive men, from whom\ncivilized peoples are descended, must have excelled in treachery and\ncruelty, as in quickness of wit and strength of will. That moral sense\nwhich makes it seem wicked to steal and murder was scarcely more\ndeveloped in them than in tigers or wolves. But to all this there was\none exception. The family supplied motives for peaceful cooeperation.[12]\nWithin the family limits fidelity and forbearance had their uses, for\nevents could not have been long in showing that the most coherent\nfamilies would prevail over their less coherent rivals. Observation of\nthe most savage races agrees with the comparative study of the\ninstitutions of civilized peoples, in proving that the only bond of\npolitical union recognized among primitive men, or conceivable by them,\nwas the physical fact of blood-relationship. Illustrations of this are\nfound in plenty far within the historic period. The very township, which\nunder one name or another has formed the unit of political society among\nall civilized peoples, was originally the stockaded dwelling-place of a\nclan which traced its blood to a common ancestor. In such a condition of\nthings the nearest approach ever made to peace was a state of armed\ntruce; and while the simple rules of morality were recognized, they were\nonly regarded as binding within the limits of the clan. There was no\nrecognition of the wickedness of robbery and murder in general.\n\nThis state of things, as above hinted, could not come to an end as long\nas men obtained food by seizing upon edible objects already in\nexistence. The supply of fish, game, or fruit being strictly limited,\nmen must ordinarily fight under penalty of starvation. If we could put a\nmoral interpretation upon events which antedated morality as we\nunderstand it, we should say it was their duty to fight; and the\nreverence accorded to the chieftain who murdered most successfully in\nbehalf of his clansmen was well deserved. It is worthy of note that, in\nisolated parts of the earth where the natural supply of food is\nabundant, as in sundry tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean, men have\nceased from warfare and become gentle and docile without rising above\nthe intellectual level of savagery. Compared with other savages, they\nare like the chimpanzee as contrasted with the gorilla. Such exceptional\ninstances well illustrate the general truth that, so long as the method\nof obtaining food was the same as that employed by brute animals, men\nmust continue to fight like dogs over a bone.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nFirst checked by the Beginnings of Industrial Civilization.\n\n\nBut presently man's superior intelligence came into play in such wise\nthat other and better methods of getting food were devised. When in\nintervals of peace men learned to rear flocks and herds, and to till the\nground, and when they had further learned to exchange with one another\nthe products of their labour, a new step, of most profound significance,\nwas taken. Tribes which had once learned how to do these things were not\nlong in overcoming their neighbours, and flourishing at their expense,\nfor agriculture allows a vastly greater population to live upon a given\narea, and in many ways it favours social compactness. An immense series\nof social changes was now begun. Whereas the only conceivable bond of\npolitical combination had heretofore been blood-relationship, a new\nbasis was now furnished by territorial contiguity and by community of\noccupation. The supply of food was no longer strictly limited, for it\ncould be indefinitely increased by peaceful industry; and moreover, in\nthe free exchange of the products of labour, it ceased to be true that\none man's interest was opposed to another's. Men did not at once\nrecognize this fact, and indeed it has not yet become universally\nrecognized, so long have men persisted in interpreting the conditions of\nindustrial life in accordance with the immemorial traditions of the time\nwhen the means of subsistence were strictly limited, so that one man's\nsuccess meant another's starvation. Our robber tariffs--miscalled\n\"protective\"--are survivals of the barbarous mode of thinking which\nfitted the ages before industrial civilization began. But although the\npacific implications of free exchange were very slowly recognized, it is\nnot the less true that the beginnings of agriculture and commerce marked\nthe beginnings of the greatest social revolution in the whole career of\nmankind. Henceforth the conditions for the maintenance of physical life\nbecame different from what they had been throughout the past history of\nthe animal world. It was no longer necessary for men to quarrel for\ntheir food like dogs over a bone; for they could now obtain it far more\neffectively by applying their intelligence to the task of utilizing the\nforces of inanimate nature; and the due execution of such a task was in\nno wise assisted by wrath and contention, but from the outset was rather\nhindered by such things.\n\nSuch were the beginnings of industrial civilization. Out of its\nexigencies, continually increasing in complexity, have proceeded,\ndirectly or indirectly, the arts and sciences which have given to modern\nlife so much of its interest and value. But more important still has been\nthe work of industrial civilization in the ethical field. By furnishing\na wider basis for political union than mere blood-relationship, it\ngreatly extended the area within which moral obligations were recognized\nas binding. At first confined to the clan, the idea of duty came at\nlength to extend throughout a state in which many clans were combined\nand fused, and as it thus increased in generality and abstractness, the\nidea became immeasurably strengthened and ennobled. At last, with the\nrise of empires, in which many states were brought together in pacific\nindustrial relations, the recognized sphere of moral obligation became\nenlarged until it comprehended all mankind.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nMethods of Political Development, and Elimination of Warfare.\n\n\nThis rise of empires, this coalescence of small groups of men into\nlarger and larger political aggregates, has been the chief work of\ncivilization, when looked at on its political side.[13] Like all the\nwork of evolution, this process has gone on irregularly and\nintermittently, and its ultimate tendency has only gradually become\napparent. This process of coalescence has from the outset been brought\nabout by the needs of industrial civilization, and the chief obstacle\nwhich it has had to encounter has been the universal hostility and\nwarfare bequeathed from primeval times. The history of mankind has been\nlargely made up of fighting, but in the careers of the most progressive\nraces this fighting has been far from meaningless, like the battles of\nkites and crows. In the stream of history which, beginning on the shores\nof the Mediterranean Sea, has widened until in our day it covers both\nsides of the Atlantic and is fast extending over the remotest parts of\nthe earth,--in this main stream of history the warfare which has gone on\nhas had a clearly discernible purpose and meaning. Broadly considered,\nthis warfare has been chiefly the struggle of the higher industrial\ncivilization in defending itself against the attacks of neighbours who\nhad not advanced beyond that early stage of humanity in which warfare\nwas chronic and normal. During the historic period, the wars of Europe\nhave been either contests between the industrial and the predatory types\nof society, or contests incident upon the imperfect formation of large\npolitical aggregates. There have been three ways in which great\npolitical bodies have arisen. The earliest and lowest method was that of\n_conquest without incorporation_. A single powerful tribe conquered and\nannexed its neighbours without admitting them to a share in the\ngovernment. It appropriated their military strength, robbed them of most\nof the fruits of their labour, and thus virtually enslaved them. Such\nwas the origin of the great despotic empires of Oriental type. Such\nstates degenerate rapidly in military strength. Their slavish\npopulations, accustomed to be starved and beaten or massacred by the\ntax-gatherer, become unable to fight, so that great armies of them will\nflee before a handful of freemen, as in the case of the ancient Persians\nand the modern Egyptians. To strike down the executive head of such an\nassemblage of enslaved tribes is to effect the conquest or the\ndissolution of the whole mass, and hence the history of Eastern peoples\nhas been characterized by sudden and gigantic revolutions.\n\nThe second method of forming great political bodies was that of\n_conquest with incorporation_. The conquering tribe, while annexing its\nneighbours, gradually admitted them to a share in the government. In\nthis way arose the Roman empire, the largest, the most stable, and in\nits best days the most pacific political aggregate the world had as yet\nseen. Throughout the best part of Europe, its conquests succeeded in\ntransforming the ancient predatory type of society into the modern\nindustrial type. It effectually broke up the primeval clan-system, with\nits narrow ethical ideas, and arrived at the broad conception of rights\nand duties coextensive with Humanity. But in the method upon which Rome\nproceeded there was an essential element of weakness. The simple device\nof representation, by which political power is equally retained in all\nparts of the community while its exercise is delegated to a central\nbody, was entirely unknown to the Romans. Partly for this reason, and\npartly because of the terrible military pressure to which the frontier\nwas perpetually exposed, the Roman government became a despotism which\ngradually took on many of the vices of the Oriental type. The political\nweakness which resulted from this allowed Europe to be overrun by\npeoples organized in clans and tribes, and for some time there was a\npartial retrogression toward the disorder characteristic of primitive\nages. The retrogression was but partial and temporary, however; the\nexposed frontier has been steadily pushed eastward into the heart of\nAsia; the industrial type of society is no longer menaced by the\npredatory type; the primeval clan-system has entirely disappeared as a\nsocial force; and warfare, once ubiquitous and chronic, has become local\nand occasional.\n\nThe third and highest method of forming great political bodies is that\nof _federation_. The element of fighting was essential in the two lower\nmethods, but in this it is not essential. Here there is no conquest, but\na voluntary union of small political groups into a great political\ngroup. Each little group preserves its local independence intact, while\nforming part of an indissoluble whole. Obviously this method of\npolitical union requires both high intelligence and high ethical\ndevelopment In early times it was impracticable. It was first attempted,\nwith brilliant though ephemeral success, by the Greeks, but it failed\nfor want of the device of representation. In later times it was put into\noperation, with permanent success, on a small scale by the Swiss, and on\na great scale by our forefathers in England. The coalescence of shires\ninto the kingdom of England, effected as it was by means of a\nrepresentative assembly, and accompanied by the general retention of\nlocal self-government, afforded a distinct precedent for such a gigantic\nfederal union as men of English race have since constructed in America.\nThe principle of federation was there, though not the name. And here we\nhit upon the fundamental contrast between the history of England and\nthat of France. The method by which the modern French nation has been\nbuilt up has been the Roman method of conquest with incorporation. As\nthe ruler of Paris gradually overcame his vassals, one after another, by\nwarfare or diplomacy, he annexed their counties to his royal domain, and\ngoverned them by lieutenants sent from Paris. Self-government was thus\ncrushed out in France, while it was preserved in England. And just as\nRome achieved its unprecedented dominion by adopting a political method\nmore effective than any that had been hitherto employed, so England,\nemploying for the first time a still higher and more effective method,\nhas come to play a part in the world compared with which even the part\nplayed by Rome seems insignificant. The test of the relative strength of\nthe English and Roman methods came when England and France contended for\nthe possession of North America. The people which preserved its\nself-government could send forth self-supporting colonies; the people\nwhich had lost the very tradition of self-government could not. Hence\nthe dominion of the sea, with that of all the outlying parts of the\nearth, fell into the hands of men of English race; and hence the\nfederative method of political union--the method which contains every\nelement of permanence, and which is pacific in its very conception--is\nalready assuming a sway which is unquestionably destined to become\nuniversal.\n\nBearing all this in mind, we cannot fail to recognize the truth of the\nstatement that the great wars of the historic period have been either\ncontests between the industrial and the predatory types of society or\ncontests incident upon the imperfect formation of great political\naggregates. Throughout the turmoil of the historic period--which on a\nsuperficial view seems such a chaos--we see certain definite tendencies\nat work; the tendency toward the formation of larger and larger\npolitical aggregates, and toward the more perfect maintenance of local\nself-government and individual freedom among the parts of the aggregate.\nThis two-sided process began with the beginnings of industrial\ncivilization; it has aided the progress of industry and been aided by\nit; and the result has been to diminish the quantity of warfare, and to\nlessen the number of points at which it touches the ordinary course of\ncivilized life. With the further continuance of this process, but one\nultimate result is possible. It must go on until warfare becomes\nobsolete. The nineteenth century, which has witnessed an unprecedented\ndevelopment of industrial civilization, with its attendant arts and\nsciences, has also witnessed an unprecedented diminution in the strength\nof the primeval spirit of militancy. It is not that we have got rid of\ngreat wars, but that the relative proportion of human strength which has\nbeen employed in warfare has been remarkably less than in any previous\nage. In our own history, of the two really great wars which have\npermeated our whole social existence,--the Revolutionary War and the War\nof Secession,--the first was fought in behalf of the pacific principle\nof equal representation; the second was fought in behalf of the pacific\nprinciple of federalism. In each case, the victory helped to hasten the\nday when warfare shall become unnecessary. In the few great wars of\nEurope since the overthrow of Napoleon, we may see the same principle at\nwork. In almost every case the result has been to strengthen the pacific\ntendencies of modern society. Whereas warfare was once dominant over the\nface of the earth, and came home in all its horrid details to\neverybody's door, and threatened the very existence of industrial\ncivilization; it has now become narrowly confined in time and space, it\nno longer comes home to everybody's door, and, in so far as it is still\ntolerated, for want of a better method of settling grave international\nquestions, it has become quite ancillary to the paramount needs, of\nindustrial civilization. When we can see so much as this lying before us\non the pages of history, we cannot fail to see that the final extinction\nof warfare is only a question of time. Sooner or later it must come to\nan end, and the pacific principle of federalism, whereby questions\nbetween states are settled, like questions between individuals by due\nprocess of law, must reign supreme over all the earth.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\nEnd of the Working of Natural Selection upon Man. Throwing off the\nBrute-Inheritance.\n\n\nAs regards the significance of Man's position in the universe, this\ngradual elimination of strife is a fact of utterly unparalleled\ngrandeur. Words cannot do justice to such a fact. It means that the\nwholesale destruction of life, which has heretofore characterized\nevolution ever since life began, and through which the higher forms of\norganic existence have been produced, must presently come to an end in\nthe case of the chief of God's creatures. It means that the universal\nstruggle for existence, having succeeded in bringing forth that\nconsummate product of creative energy, the Human Soul, has done its work\nand will presently cease. In the lower regions of organic life it must\ngo on, but as a determining factor in the highest work of evolution it\nwill disappear.\n\nThe action of natural selection upon Man has long since been essentially\ndiminished through the operation of social conditions. For in all grades\nof civilization above the lowest, \"there are so many kinds of\nsuperiorities which severally enable men to survive, notwithstanding\naccompanying inferiorities, that natural selection cannot by itself\nrectify any particular unfitness.\" In a race of inferior animals any\nmaladjustment is quickly removed by natural selection, because, owing to\nthe universal slaughter, the highest completeness of life possible to a\ngiven grade of organization is required for the mere maintenance of\nlife. But under the conditions surrounding human development it is\notherwise.[14] There is a wide interval between the highest and lowest\ndegrees of completeness of living that are compatible with maintenance\nof life.\n\nHence the wicked flourish. Vice is but slowly eliminated, because\nmankind has so many other qualities, beside the bad ones, which enable\nit to subsist and achieve progress in spite of them, that natural\nselection--which always works through death--cannot come into play. The\nimprovement of civilized man goes on mainly through processes of direct\nadaptation. The principle in accordance with which the gloved hand of\nthe dandy becomes white and soft while the hand of the labouring man\ngrows brown and tough is the main principle at work in the improvement\nof Humanity. Our intellectual faculties, our passions and prejudices,\nour tastes and habits, become strengthened by use and weakened by\ndisuse, just as the blacksmith's arm grows strong and the horse turned\nout to pasture becomes unfit for work. This law of use and disuse has\nbeen of immense importance throughout the whole evolution of organic\nlife. With Man it has come to be paramount.\n\nIf now we contrast the civilized man intellectually and morally with the\nsavage, we find that, along with his vast increase of cerebral surface,\nhe has an immensely greater power of representing in imagination objects\nand relations not present to the senses. This is the fundamental\nintellectual difference between civilized men and savages.[15] The power\nof imagination, or ideal representation, underlies the whole of science\nand art, and it is closely connected with the ability to work hard and\nsubmit to present discomfort for the sake of a distant reward. It is\nalso closely connected with the development of the sympathetic feelings.\nThe better we can imagine objects and relations not present to sense,\nthe more readily we can sympathize with other people. Half the cruelty\nin the world is the direct result of stupid incapacity to put one's self\nin the other man's place. So closely inter-related are our intellectual\nand moral natures that the development of sympathy is very considerably\ndetermined by increasing width and variety of experience. From the\nsimplest form of sympathy, such as the painful thrill felt on seeing\nsome one in a dangerous position, up to the elaborate complication of\naltruistic feelings involved in the notion of abstract justice, the\ndevelopment is very largely a development of the representative faculty.\nThe very same causes, therefore, deeply grounded in the nature of\nindustrial civilization, which have developed science and art, have also\nhad a distinct tendency to encourage the growth of the sympathetic\nemotions.\n\nBut, as already observed, these emotions are still too feebly developed,\neven in the highest races of men. We have made more progress in\nintelligence than in kindness. For thousands of generations, and until\nvery recent times, one of the chief occupations of men has been to\nplunder, bruise, and kill one another. The selfish and ugly passions\nwhich are primordial--which have the incalculable strength of\ninheritance from the time when animal consciousness began--have had but\nlittle opportunity to grow weak from disuse. The tender and unselfish\nfeelings, which are a later product of evolution, have too seldom been\nallowed to grow strong from exercise. And the whims and prejudices of\nthe primeval militant barbarism are slow in dying out from the midst of\npeaceful industrial civilization. The coarser forms of cruelty are\ndisappearing, and the butchery of men has greatly diminished. But most\npeople apply to industrial pursuits a notion of antagonism derived from\nages of warfare, and seek in all manner of ways to cheat or overreach\none another. And as in more barbarous times the hero was he who had\nslain his tens of thousands, so now the man who has made wealth by\noverreaching his neighbours is not uncommonly spoken of in terms which\nimply approval. Though gentlemen, moreover, no longer assail one another\nwith knives and clubs, they still inflict wounds with cruel words and\nsneers. Though the free--thinker is no longer chained to a stake and\nburned, people still tell lies about him, and do their best to starve\nhim by hurting his reputation. The virtues of forbearance and\nself-control are still in a very rudimentary state, and of mutual\nhelpfulness there is far too little among men.\n\nNevertheless in all these respects some improvement has been made, along\nwith the diminution of warfare, and by the time warfare has not merely\nceased from the earth but has come to be the dimly remembered phantom of\na remote past, the development of the sympathetic side of human nature\nwill doubtless become prodigious. The manifestation of selfish and\nhateful feelings will be more and more sternly repressed by public\nopinion, and such feelings will become weakened by disuse, while the\nsympathetic feelings will increase in strength as the sphere for their\nexercise is enlarged. And thus at length we see what human progress\nmeans. It means throwing off the brute-inheritance,--gradually throwing\nit off through ages of struggle that are by and by to make struggle\nneedless. Man is slowly passing from a primitive social state in which\nhe was little better than a brute, toward an ultimate social state in\nwhich his character shall have become so transformed that nothing of the\nbrute can be detected in it. The ape and the tiger in human nature will\nbecome extinct. Theology has had much to say about original sin. This\noriginal sin is neither more nor less than the brute-inheritance which\nevery man carries with him, and the process of evolution is an advance\ntoward true salvation. Fresh value is thus added to human life. The\nmodern prophet, employing the methods of science, may again proclaim\nthat the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Work ye, therefore, early and\nlate, to prepare its coming.\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\nThe Message of Christianity.\n\n\nNow what is this message of the modern prophet but pure\nChristianity?--not the mass of theological doctrine ingeniously piled up\nby Justin Martyr and Tertullian and Clement and Athanasius and\nAugustine, but the real and essential Christianity which came, fraught\nwith good tidings to men, from the very lips of Jesus and Paul! When did\nSt. Paul's conception of the two men within him that warred against each\nother, the appetites of our brute nature and the God-given yearning for\na higher life,--when did this grand conception ever have so much\nsignificance as now? When have we ever before held such a clew to the\nmeaning of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount? \"Blessed are the meek, for\nthey shall inherit the earth.\" In the cruel strife of centuries has it\nnot often seemed as if the earth were to be rather the prize of the\nhardest heart and the strongest fist? To many men these words of Christ\nhave been as foolishness and as a stumbling-block, and the ethics of the\nSermon on the Mount have been openly derided as too good for this world.\nIn that wonderful picture of modern life which is the greatest work of\none of the great seers of our time, Victor Hugo gives a concrete\nillustration of the working of Christ's methods. In the saintlike career\nof Bishop Myriel, and in the transformation which his example works in\nthe character of the hardened outlaw Jean Valjean, we have a most\npowerful commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. By some critics who\ncould express their views freely about \"Les Miserables\" while hesitating\nto impugn directly the authority of the New Testament, Monseigneur\nBienvenu was unsparingly ridiculed as a man of impossible goodness, and\nas a milksop and fool withal. But I think Victor Hugo understood the\ncapabilities of human nature, and its real dignity, much better than\nthese scoffers. In a low stage of civilization Monseigneur Bienvenu\nwould have had small chance of reaching middle life. Christ himself, we\nremember, was crucified between two thieves. It is none the less true\nthat when once the degree of civilization is such as to allow this\nhighest type of character, distinguished by its meekness and kindness,\nto take root and thrive, its methods are incomparable in their potency.\nThe Master knew full well that the time was not yet ripe,--that he\nbrought not peace, but a sword. But he preached nevertheless that gospel\nof great joy which is by and by to be realized by toiling Humanity, and\nhe announced ethical principles fit for the time that is coming. The\ngreat originality of his teaching, and the feature that has chiefly\ngiven it power in the world, lay in the distinctness with which he\nconceived a state of society from which every vestige of strife, and the\nmodes of behaviour adapted to ages of strife, shall be utterly and\nforever swept away. Through misery that has seemed unendurable and\nturmoil that has seemed endless, men have thought on that gracious life\nand its sublime ideal, and have taken comfort in the sweetly solemn\nmessage of peace on earth and good will to men.\n\nI believe that the promise with which I started has now been amply\nredeemed. I believe it has been fully shown that so far from degrading\nHumanity, or putting it on a level with the animal world in general, the\ndoctrine of evolution shows us distinctly for the first time how the\ncreation and the perfecting of Man is the goal toward which Nature's\nwork has been tending from the first. We can now see clearly that our\nnew knowledge enlarges tenfold the significance of human life, and makes\nit seem more than ever the chief object of Divine care, the consummate\nfruition of that creative energy which is manifested throughout the\nknowable universe.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\nThe Question as to a Future Life.\n\n\nUpon the question whether Humanity is, after all, to cast in its lot\nwith the grass that withers and the beasts that perish, the whole\nforegoing argument has a bearing that is by no means remote or\nfar-fetched. It is not likely that we shall ever succeed in making the\nimmortality of the soul a matter of scientific demonstration, for we\nlack the requisite data. It must ever remain an affair of religion\nrather than of science. In other words, it must remain one of that class\nof questions upon which I may not expect to convince my neighbour, while\nat the same time I may entertain a reasonable conviction of my own upon\nthe subject.[16] In the domain of cerebral physiology the question might\nbe debated forever without a result. The only thing which cerebral\nphysiology tells us, when studied with the aid of molecular physics, is\nagainst the materialist, so far as it goes. It tells us that, during the\npresent life, although thought and feeling are always manifested in\nconnection with a peculiar form of matter, yet by no possibility can\nthought and feeling be in any sense the products of matter. Nothing\ncould be more grossly unscientific than the famous remark of Cabanis,\nthat the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile. It is not\neven correct to say that thought goes on in the brain. What goes on in\nthe brain is an amazingly complex series of molecular movements, with\nwhich thought and feeling are in some unknown way correlated, not as\neffects or as causes, but as concomitants. So much is clear, but\ncerebral physiology says nothing about another life. Indeed, why should\nit? The last place in the world to which I should go for information\nabout a state of things in which thought and feeling can exist in the\nabsence of a cerebrum would be cerebral physiology!\n\nThe materialistic assumption that there is no such state of things, and\nthat the life of the soul accordingly ends with the life of the body, is\nperhaps the most colossal instance of baseless assumption that is known\nto the history of philosophy. No evidence for it can be alleged beyond\nthe familiar fact that during the present life we know Soul only in its\nassociation with Body, and therefore cannot discover disembodied soul\nwithout dying ourselves. This fact must always prevent us from obtaining\ndirect evidence for the belief in the soul's survival. But a negative\npresumption is not created by the absence of proof in cases where, in\nthe nature of things, proof is inaccessible.[17] With his illegitimate\nhypothesis of annihilation, the materialist transgresses the bounds of\nexperience quite as widely as the poet who sings of the New Jerusalem\nwith its river of life and its streets of gold. Scientifically speaking,\nthere is not a particle of evidence for either view.\n\nBut when we desist from the futile attempt to introduce scientific\ndemonstration into a region which confessedly transcends human\nexperience, and when we consider the question upon broad grounds of\nmoral probability, I have no doubt that men will continue in the future,\nas in the past, to cherish the faith in a life beyond the grave. In past\ntimes the disbelief in the soul's immortality has always accompanied\nthat kind of philosophy which, under whatever name, has regarded\nHumanity as merely a local incident in an endless and aimless series of\ncosmical changes. As a general rule, people who have come to take such a\nview of the position of Man in the universe have ceased to believe in a\nfuture life. On the other hand, he who regards Man as the consummate\nfruition of creative energy, and the chief object of Divine care, is\nalmost irresistibly driven to the belief that the soul's career is not\ncompleted with the present life upon the earth. Difficulties on theory\nhe will naturally expect to meet in many quarters; but these will not\nweaken his faith, especially when he remembers that upon the alternative\nview the difficulties are at least as great. We live in a world of\nmystery, at all events, and there is not a problem in the simplest and\nmost exact departments of science which does not speedily lead us to a\ntranscendental problem that we can neither solve nor elude. A broad\ncommon-sense argument has often to be called in, where keen-edged\nmetaphysical analysis has confessed itself baffled.\n\nNow we have here seen that the doctrine of evolution does not allow us\nto take the atheistic view of the position of Man. It is true that\nmodern astronomy shows us giant balls of vapour condensing into fiery\nsuns, cooling down into planets fit for the support of life, and at last\ngrowing cold and rigid in death, like the moon. And there are\nindications of a time when systems of dead planets shall fall in upon\ntheir central ember that was once a sun, and the whole lifeless mass,\nthus regaining heat, shall expand into a nebulous cloud like that with\nwhich we started, that the work of condensation and evolution may begin\nover again. These Titanic events must doubtless seem to our limited\nvision like an endless and aimless series of cosmical changes. They\ndisclose no signs of purpose, or even of dramatic tendency;[18] they\nseem like the weary work of Sisyphos. But on the face of our own planet,\nwhere alone we are able to survey the process of evolution in its higher\nand more complex details, we do find distinct indications of a dramatic\ntendency, though doubtless not of purpose in the limited human sense.\nThe Darwinian theory, properly understood, replaces as much\nteleology[19] as it destroys. From the first dawning of life we see all\nthings working together toward one mighty goal, the evolution of the\nmost exalted spiritual qualities which characterize Humanity. The body\nis cast aside and returns to the dust of which it was made. The earth,\nso marvellously wrought to man's uses, will also be cast aside. The day\nis to come, no doubt, when the heavens shall vanish as a scroll, and the\nelements be melted with fervent heat. So small is the value which Nature\nsets upon the perishable forms of matter! The question, then, is reduced\nto this: are Man's highest spiritual qualities, into the production of\nwhich all this creative energy has gone, to disappear with the rest? Has\nall this work been done for nothing? Is it all ephemeral, all a bubble\nthat bursts, a vision that fades? Are we to regard the Creator's work as\nlike that of a child, who builds houses out of blocks, just for the\npleasure of knocking them down? For aught that science can tell us, it\nmay be so, but I can see no good reason for believing any such thing. On\nsuch a view the riddle of the universe becomes a riddle without a\nmeaning. Why, then, are we any more called upon to throw away our belief\nin the permanence of the spiritual element in Man than we are called\nupon to throw away our belief in the constancy of Nature? When\nquestioned as to the ground of our irresistible belief that like causes\nmust always be followed by like effects, Mr. Mill's answer was that it\nis the result of an induction coextensive with the whole of our\nexperience; Mr. Spencer's answer was that it is a postulate which we\nmake in every act of experience;[20] but the authors of the \"Unseen\nUniverse,\" slightly varying the form of statement, called it a supreme\nact of faith,--the expression of a trust in God, that He will not \"put\nus to permanent intellectual confusion.\" Now the more thoroughly we\ncomprehend that process of evolution by which things have come to be\nwhat they are, the more we are likely to feel that to deny the\neverlasting persistence of the spiritual element in Man is to rob the\nwhole process of its meaning. It goes far toward putting us to permanent\nintellectual confusion, and I do not see that any one has as yet\nalleged, or is ever likely to allege, a sufficient reason for our\naccepting so dire an alternative.\n\nFor my own part, therefore, I believe in the immortality of the soul,\nnot in the sense in which I accept the demonstrable truths of science,\nbut as a supreme act of faith in the reasonableness of God's work. Such\na belief, relating to regions quite inaccessible to experience, cannot\nof course be clothed in terms of definite and tangible meaning. For the\nexperience which alone can give us such terms we must await that solemn\nday which is to overtake us all. The belief can be most quickly defined\nby its negation, as the refusal to believe that this world is all. The\nmaterialist holds that when you have described the whole universe of\nphenomena of which we can become cognizant under the conditions of the\npresent life, then the whole story is told. It seems to me, on the\ncontrary, that the whole story is not thus told. I feel the omnipresence\nof mystery in such wise as to make it far easier for me to adopt the\nview of Euripides, that what we call death may be but the dawning of\ntrue knowledge and of true life. The greatest philosopher of modern\ntimes, the master and teacher of all who shall study the process of\nevolution for many a day to come, holds that the conscious soul is not\nthe product of a collocation of material particles, but is in the\ndeepest sense a divine effluence. According to Mr. Spencer, the divine\nenergy which is manifested throughout the knowable universe is the same\nenergy that wells up in us as consciousness. Speaking for myself, I can\nsee no insuperable difficulty in the notion that at some period in the\nevolution of Humanity this divine spark may have acquired sufficient\nconcentration and steadiness to survive the wreck of material forms and\nendure forever. Such a crowning wonder seems to me no more than the fit\nclimax to a creative work that has been ineffably beautiful and\nmarvellous in all its myriad stages.\n\nOnly on some such view can the reasonableness of the universe, which\nstill remains far above our finite power of comprehension, maintain its\nground. There are some minds inaccessible to the class of considerations\nhere alleged, and perhaps there always will be. But on such grounds, if\non no other, the faith in immortality is likely to be shared by all who\nlook upon the genesis of the highest spiritual qualities in Man as the\ngoal of Nature's creative work. This view has survived the Copernican\nrevolution in science, and it has survived the Darwinian revolution.\nNay, if the foregoing exposition be sound, it is Darwinism which has\nplaced Humanity upon a higher pinnacle than ever. The future is lighted\nfor us with the radiant colours of hope. Strife and sorrow shall\ndisappear. Peace and love shall reign supreme. The dream of poets, the\nlesson of priest and prophet, the inspiration of the great musician, is\nconfirmed in the light of modern knowledge; and as we gird ourselves up\nfor the work of life, we may look forward to the time when in the truest\nsense the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and\nhe shall reign for ever and ever, king of kings and lord of lords.\n\n\n\n\nREFERENCES.\n\n\n    C.P., Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, 1874;\n    U.W., The Unseen World, 1876;\n    D., Darwinism and Other Essays, 1879;\n    E.E., Excursions of an Evolutionist, 1884.\n\n    1: C.P. ii. 432-451.\n    2: C.P. ii. 89-91.\n    3: C.P. ii. 318-321; D. 45.\n    4: U.W. 40-42; D. 65-74; E.E. 278-282, 327, 336.\n    5: C.P. ii. 154-159.\n    6: C.P. ii. 133-135.\n    7: D. 45-48; E.E. 306-319.\n    8: C.P. ii. 310.\n    9: E.E. 109-146.\n    10: C.P. ii. 284-323.\n    11: C.P. ii. 342-346, 358-363.\n    12: C.P. ii. 202-208.\n    13: C.P. ii. 213-224.\n    14: C.P. ii. 334.\n    15: C.P. ii. 312-315.\n    16: U.W. 54; E.E. 289-291.\n    17: U.W. 47-50; D. 75.\n    18: D. 96-102.\n    19: C.P. ii. 406.\n    20: C.P. i. 45-71, 286; ii. 162; U.W. 6; D. 87-95.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nJohn Fiske's Writings.\n\n\nMYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS: Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by\nComparative Mythology, _17th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00.\n\nOUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. Based on the Doctrine of Evolution, with\nCriticisms on the Positive Philosophy. _14th Edition_. 2 vols.,\n8vo, $6.00\n\nTHE UNSEEN WORLD, and other Essays, _12th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00.\n\nEXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST. _15th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00.\n\nDARWINISM, and other Essays. _8th Edition_. 12mo, $2.00.\n\nTHE DESTINY OF MAN, viewed in the Light of His Origin. _20th\nEdition_. 16mo, $1.00.\n\nTHE IDEA OF GOD, as affected by Modern Knowledge. A Sequel to \"The\nDestiny of Man.\" _14th Thousand_. 16mo, $1.00.\n\nTHE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789. _12th Edition_.\nCrown 8vo, $2.00.\n\nTHE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND or the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations\nto Civil and Religious Liberty. _10th Thousand_. Crown 8vo, $2.00.\n\nTHE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. In Riverside Library for Young People. 16mo, 75\ncents.\n\nTHE DISCOVERY AND SPANISH CONQUEST OF AMERICA. With Maps, _11th\nThousand_. 2 vols., crown 8vo, $4.00.\n\nTHE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. _8th Thousand_. 2 vols., crown 8vo, $4.00.\n\nCIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. CONSIDERED WITH SOME REFERENCE TO\nITS ORIGINS. _56th Thousand._ Crown 8vo, $1.00, _net_.\n\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.\nBOSTON AND NEW YORK.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAMERICAN POLITICAL IDEAS, viewed from the Stand-point of Universal\nHistory. _Seventh Edition_. 12mo, $1.00. HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WRITINGS OF JOHN FISKE.\n\n\nTHE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.\n\n_With some Account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest. With a\nsteel portrait of Mr. Fiske, reproductions of many old maps, several\nmodern maps, facsimiles, and other illustrations. 2 vols. crown 8vo,\n$4.00._\n\n_LARGE-PAPER EDITION. Limited to 250 copies. 4 vols. 8vo, $16.00, net._\n\nThis work forms the beginning of Mr. Fiske's history of America. It is,\nperhaps, the most important single portion yet completed by him, and\ngives the results of vast research.\n\n\nTHE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.\n\n_With Plans of Battles, and a new Steel Portrait of Washington, engraved\nby Willcox from a miniature never before reproduced. 2 vols. crown 8vo,\ngilt top, $4.00._\n\nThe reader may turn to these volumes with full assurance of faith for a\nfresh rehearsal of the old facts, which no time can stale, and for new\nviews of those old facts, according to the larger framework of ideas in\nwhich they can now be set by the master of a captivating style and an\nexpert in historical philosophy.--_New York Evening Post_.\n\nThe freshness and vivid interest of the narrative and the comprehensive\ngeneralization which springs naturally from the author's plan of a large\nwork on American history, of which the two volumes now published are no\nmore than a third or a fourth part, make it a book of new and permanent\ninterest.--_Springfield Republican_.\n\n\nCIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES\n\n_Considered with some Reference to its Origins. With Questions on the\nText by Frank A. Hill, and Bibliographical Notes by Mr. Fiske. 12mo,\n$1.00, net._\n\nIf this admirable volume (Fiske's \"Civil Government\") can be fairly\ntaught to our rising generation, the future, we believe, will show that\nMr. Fiske has never done more useful work than in its preparation.--_The\nCongregationalist_ (Boston).\n\n\nTHE CRITICAL PERIOD OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1783-1789.\n\n_With Map, Notes, etc. Crown 8vo, $2.00._\n\nThe author combines in an unusual degree the impartiality of the trained\nscholar with the fervor of the interested narrator.... The volume should\nbe in every library in the land.--_The Congregationalist_ (Boston).\n\nAn admirable book.... Mr. Fiske has a great talent for making history\ninteresting to the general reader.--_New York Times_.\n\n\nTHE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND;\n\n_Or, the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious\nLiberty. Crown 8vo, $2.00._\n\nIt deals with the early colonial history of New England in the\nentertaining and vivid style which has marked all of Mr. Fiske's\nwritings on American history, and it is distinguished, like them, by its\naggressive patriotism and its justice to all parties in controversy....\nThe whole book is novel and fresh in treatment, philosophical and wise,\nand will not be laid down till one has read the last page, and remains\nimpatient for what is still to come.--_Boston Post_.\n\n\nTHE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.\n\n_In Riverside Library for Young People. With Maps. 16mo, 75 cents._\n\nJohn Fiske's \"War of Independence\" is a miracle.... A book brilliant and\neffective beyond measure.... It is a statement that every child can\ncomprehend, but that only a man of consummate genius could have\nwritten.--Mrs. CAROLINE H. DALL, _in the Springfield Republican_.\n\nThe story of the Revolution, as Mr. Fiske tells it, is one of surpassing\ninterest. His treatment is a marvel of clearness and comprehensiveness;\ndiscarding non-essential details, he selects with a fine historic\ninstinct the main currents of history, traces them with the utmost\nprecision, and tells the whole story in a masterly fashion. His little\nvolume will be a text-book for older quite as much as for young\nreaders.--_Christian Union_ (New York).\n\n\nOUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY\n\n_Based on the Doctrine of Evolution, with Criticisms on the Positive\nPhilosophy. In two volumes. 8vo, $6.00._\n\n\"You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest with which I\nhave at last slowly read the whole of your work.... I never in my life\nread so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are; and I\nthink that I understand nearly the whole, though perhaps less clearly\nabout cosmic theism and causation than other parts. It is hopeless to\nattempt out of so much to specify what has interested me most, and\nprobably you would not care to hear. It pleased me to find that here and\nthere I had arrived, from my own crude thoughts, at some of the same\nconclusions with you, though I could seldom or never have given my\nreasons for such conclusions.\"--CHARLES DARWIN.\n\nThis work of Mr. Fiske's may be not unfairly designated the most\nimportant contribution yet made by America to philosophical\nliterature.--_The Academy_ (London).\n\n\nDARWINISM, AND OTHER ESSAYS.\n\nIf ever there was a spirit thoroughly invigorated by the \"joy of right\nunderstanding\" it is that of the author of these pieces. Even the reader\ncatches something of his intellectual buoyancy, and is thus carried\nalmost lightly through discussions which would be hard and dry in the\nhands of a less animated writer.... No less confident and serene than\nhis acceptance of the utmost logical results of recent scientific\ndiscovery is Mr. Fiske's assurance that the foundations of spiritual\ntruths, so called, cannot possibly be shaken thereby.--_The Atlantic\nMonthly_ (Boston).\n\n\nTHE UNSEEN WORLD,\n\n_And Other Essays. 12mo, $2.00._\n\nTo each study the writer seems to have brought, besides an excellent\nquality of discriminating judgment, full and fresh special knowledge,\nthat enables him to supply much information on the subject, whatever it\nmay be, that is not to be found in the volume he is noticing. To the\nknowledge, analytical power, and faculty of clear statement, that appear\nin all these papers, Mr. Fiske adds a just independence of thought that\nconciliates respectful consideration of his views, even when they are\nmost at variance with the commonly accepted ones.--_Boston Advertiser_.\n\n\nEXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST.\n\n_12mo, $2.00._\n\nAmong our thoughtful essayists there are none more brilliant than Mr.\nJohn Fiske. His pure style suits his clear thought. He does not write\nunless he has something to say; and when he does write he shows not only\nthat he has thoroughly acquainted himself with the subject but that he\nhas to a rare degree the art of so massing his matter as to bring out\nthe true value of the leading points in artistic relief. It is this\nperspective which makes his work such agreeable reading even on abstruse\nsubjects, and has enabled him to play the same part in popularizing\nSpencer in this country that Littre performed for Comte in France, and\nDumont for Bentham in England. The same qualities appear to good\nadvantage in his new volume, which contains his later essays on his\nfavorite subject of evolution.... They are well worth reperusal.--_The\nNation_ (New York).\n\n\nMYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS.\n\n_Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by Comparative Mythology. 12mo,\n$2.00._\n\nMr. Fiske has given us a book which is at once sensible and attractive,\non a subject about which much is written that is crotchety or\ntedious.--W.R.S. RALSTON, in _Athenaeum_ (London).\n\nA perusal of this thorough work cannot be too strongly recommended to\nall who are interested in comparative mythology.--_Revue Critique_\n(Paris).\n\n\nTHE DESTINY OF MAN,\n\n_Viewed in the Light of his Origin. 16mo, gilt top, $1.00._\n\nMr. Fiske has given us in his \"Destiny of Man\" a most attractive\ncondensation of his views as expressed in his various other works. One\nis charmed by the directness and clearness of his style, his simple and\npure English, and his evident knowledge of his subject.... Of one thing\nwe may be sure, that none are leading us more surely or rapidly to the\nfull truth than men like the author of this little book, who reverently\nstudy the works of God for the lessons which he would teach his\nchildren.--_Christian Union_ (New York).\n\n\nTHE IDEA OF GOD,\n\n_As Affected by Modern Knowledge. 16mo, gilt top, $1.00._\n\nThe charms of John Fiske's style are patent. The secrets of its fluency,\nclearness, and beauty are secrets which many a maker of literary stuffs\nhas attempted to unravel, in order to weave like cloth-of-gold.... A\nmodel for authors and a delight to readers.--_The Critic_ (New York).\n\n*** _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of\nprice by the Publishers,_\n\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.\n\n_4 Park Street, Boston; 11 East 17th Street, New York._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"The Destiny of Man, Viewed in the Light of His Origin","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":18427}