460 Living in a World of Change 



words, we shall refuse to accept our maladjustments as per- 

 manent obstacles to our survival, just as we have supple- 

 mented our scanty hair with the furs of other animals and 

 steamheated apartments, and as we have substituted for our 

 utterly inadequate flying organs extraneous devices of wood 

 and metal. 



The Individual 



The growth of the evolutionary point of view has car- 

 ried a new implication regarding the significance of the 

 individual. A new concept of species, as itself merely a 

 convenient generalization, shifts attention back to the in- 

 dividual. The individual human being finds here a new 

 dignity. He can articulate now excellent reasons for his re- 

 sentment against being treated as a member of some inclusive 

 group — whether it be peasant or teacher, voter or customer, 

 or the more meaningless " public." He is discovering that 

 he is after all, with the full approval of " science," what he 

 always felt himself to be — namely, his own peculiar and 

 unduplicated self. Evolution in the social sphere must take 

 account of individuals not merely as the potential ancestors 

 of the future of society, but as having significance here and 

 now in their own right. It is particular individuals who 

 make things happen, who for better or for worse change 

 the course of events. An outstanding genius is significant 

 without regard to his parentage or possible progeny. But 

 the moron demands also that he be considered on his merits 

 and not merely on his classification. We are learning through 

 this new attention to the constituent units of our social 

 group that there is always more in the individual than our 

 categories acknowledge. In the management of industry, in 

 legislation, in education, in administration more and more 

 account must be had of the particular individual, in whom 

 are to be found his own laws of being and action. At the 

 same time, we see more in the group than the sum of its 

 members. 



