ORGANIC MOVEMENTS 121 



beings, could possibly counteract evolution and stop it. 

 It would do so whenever " evolution " led through immoral 

 phases. Suppose that an evolutionary process of any kind 

 could only be effected by war or revolution, and that 

 the majority of a people objected to war and revolution 

 for moral reasons : then evolution would be stopped in 

 favour of morality. We have spoken of the possibility that 

 history might contain certain evolutionary elements. If 

 it were evolution throughout, all " morality," of course, would 

 be only apparent : there would in reality be no such thing 

 as the relation between two " individuals J: in this case, 

 there would be one " super-individuum *' using the biological 

 individuals as its " means." l 



CONCLUSIONS OF SECTION A 



Our survey of the most important theoretical results 

 of biology as a natural science is ended ; discussion of 

 these results as such may begin and, indeed, is to occupy 

 us for the rest of these lectures. 



Nobody can blame us, I suppose, for having understood 

 the concept of biology in too narrow a sense ; on the 

 contrary, some people might say perhaps that too many 

 problems have been brought by us to the court of biological 

 natural science, such as the history and culture and morality 

 of mankind. But biology, I think, must be taken as the 

 natural science of all that is living and of all the phenomena 



1 In this case moral feeling itself would be subjected to evolution which, 

 personally, I do not believe. That, otherwise, all sorts of cumulations are 

 able to be stopped by morality is too obvious to require further analysis. 

 The problem of the content of morality as such lies beyond the limits of this 

 book. 



