l^atural Selection and Social Doctrine 449 



it is rejected because it implies — to some of us — objection- 

 able inferences and conclusions. 



We have already seen that the desire for change in the 

 hope of improvement and opposition to change in the fear 

 of disturbance are operative with many classes of people. 

 With these evolution is accepted or rejected, not on the basis 

 of a well considered examination of the relevant facts, but 

 entirely in terms of hopes or fears. Perhaps most of us are 

 influenced by such subtle factors without being aware of 

 them. A few further illustrations of the rationalizing re- 

 ception given to the idea of evolution will help to clarify 

 the confusions that have accompanied the discussion for 

 seventy years. 



Natural Selection and Social Doctrine 



Although Darwin was not interested in economic as- 

 pects of human affairs, he seems nevertheless to have been 

 influenced by the prevailing social and economic thoughts 

 of his time. The economic struggle was to him extremely 

 distasteful — that is, in prospect as a student, for he really 

 never took part in it. When he learned that his father's 

 estate would probably leave him enough to insure " bread 

 and cheese " he promptly abandoned his medical studies and 

 resolved to become a naturalist. The concept of the strug- 

 gle for existence as developed by Darwin seems to have ab- 

 sorbed quite as much from the current social conflicts as from 

 the direct observation of nature. Certainly the botanist in 

 Darwin would not have been impressed with the competitive 

 aspects of life. 



With all the qualifications which Darwin himself placed 

 upon the description of the " struggle," it was inevitable 

 that his doctrine should be seized by those who were inter- 

 ested in sanctifying the commercial competitions that char- 

 acterized so large a part of the Nineteenth Century. Ex- 

 ploiters of the helpless were not long to discover that atheistic 

 science furnished a sanction for taking advantage of other 



