Evolution and the Ascent of Man 445 



Beast and Spirit 



As to the special doctrine of man's descent from sub- 

 human ancestors, we may look upon the findings of the 

 biologist in two ways : 



1. We can say that comparison with other animals is 

 degrading, since it makes man out to be a beast. It is a de- 

 moralizing doctrine. It is better to teach that man is a spirit 

 — a fallen angel, perhaps, who may hope to rise again. 



2. We may say that comparison with animals shows 

 how we differ from the beast, what there is distinctive and 

 worth cultivating in human beings. That is an inspiring 

 and uplifting doctrine. 



People who are brought up to think that man is born 

 in sin, and who find it difficult to maintain consistently a 

 human attitude, may be helped to slide back by the sugges- 

 tion that after all we are another kind of animal — perhaps 

 " nothing but " an animal. Science, while discrediting the 

 theological sanctions of an earlier tradition, fails to supply 

 them a new positive morality or new sanctions for the 

 conventional. 



On the other hand, people who are brought up to think 

 realistically of their powers and their limitations, of their 

 aspirations and their resources, may be helped by the evi- 

 dence of man's advance to a firmer grip on themselves, to a 

 stronger determination to live a life worthy of human beings. 



Whether we like to contemplate man's descent from a 

 relative of the apes or not, there can be neither shame nor 

 glory in the facts, whatever they may be in detail. We need 

 take no credit for having ascended to heights so far above 

 the monkey or the amphioxus. There is indeed no need to 

 identify ourselves with our supposed " ancestors " or to 

 identify our own virtues with the processes that have in fact 

 intervened between the past and the present. Certainly we 

 cannot claim that any of our present aspirations had a part 

 in the past becoming; nor can we reproach the more lowly 

 for not having reached our own pinnacles. 



