536 Darwinism and History 



of the genetic process is an independent interest. For the purpose 

 of the reconstruction, sociology, as well as physical geography, 

 biology, psychology, is necessary ; the sociologist and the historian 

 play into each other's hands ; but the object of the former is to 

 establish generalisations ; the aim of the latter is to trace in detail 

 a singular causal sequence. 



14. The success of the evolutional theory helped to discredit the 

 assumption or at least the invocation of transcendent causes. Philo- 

 sophically of course it is compatible with theism, but historians have 

 for the most part desisted from invoking the naive conception of a 

 " god in history " to explain historical movements. A historian may 

 be a theist ; but, so far as his work is concerned, this particular belief 

 is otiose. Otherwise indeed (as was remarked above) history could 

 not be a science ; for with a deus ex machina who can be brought on 

 the stage to solve difficulties scientific treatment is a farce. The 

 transcendent element had appeared in a more subtle form through the 

 influence of German philosophy. I noticed how Ranke is prone to 

 refer to ideas as if they were transcendent existences manifesting 

 themselves in the successive movements of history. It is intelligible 

 to speak of certain ideas as controlling, in a given period, for 

 instance, the idea of nationality ; but from the scientific point of 

 view, such ideas have no existence outside the minds of individuals 

 and are purely psychical forces; and a historical "idea," if it does not 

 exist in this form, is merely a way of expressing a synthesis of the 

 historian himself. 



15. From the more general influence of Darwinism on the place 

 of history in the system of human knowledge, we may turn to the 

 influence of the principles and methods by which Darwin explained 

 development. It had been recognised even by ancient writers (such 

 as Aristotle and Polybius) that physical circumstances (geography, 

 climate) were factors conditioning the character and history of a race 

 or society. In the sixteenth century Bodin emphasised these factors, 

 and many subsequent writers took them into account. The investiga- 

 tions of Darwin, which brought them into the foreground, naturally 

 promoted attempts to discover in them the chief key to the growth 

 of civilisation. Comte had expressly denounced the notion that the 

 biological methods of Lamarck could be applied to social man. 

 Buckle had taken account of natural influences, but had relegated 

 them to a secondary plane, compared with psychological factors. 

 But the Darwinian theory made it tempting to explain the develop- 

 ment of civilisation in terms of "adaptation to environment," "struggle 

 for existence," "natural selection," "survival of the fittest," etc. 1 



1 Recently 0. Seeck has applied these principles to the decline of Graeco-Boman 

 civilisation in his Untergang der antiken Welt, 2 vols., Berlin, 1895, 1901. 



