518 INTRODUCTION TO EVOLUTION 



dom from generation to generation. Whether or not you agree with me 

 that the universe and organic evolution give evidence of purpose and plan, 

 you will recognize readily enough that this new evolution, under human 

 control, is characterized by purpose and plan, "because man has purposes 

 and he makes plans" (Simpson, 1949). The quotation is from the pen of a 

 distinguished contributor to evolutionary thinking who does not agree with 

 the point of view I have expressed — that the universe gives evidence of 

 being characterized by pattern and goal. Nevertheless he finds pattern and 

 goal in man's social evolution sufficient to confer significance upon human 

 life. His discussion merits thoughtful reading. 



Looking at Man and His Future 



If space permitted I should like to discuss at some length the influence of 

 evolution upon our conception of man and upon human institutions and so- 

 ciety. I must content myself with but a few points, however. In the first 

 place, what is the influence of evolutionary thinking upon our ideas con- 

 cerning man himself? Succinctly, it changes our viewpoint so that we re- 

 gard man no longer as a "fallen angel" but instead as a "risen animal." 

 Some people, mostly of an older generation, are sincerely distressed by 

 this changed viewpoint. For them there was comfort in the thought that 

 man once was perfect, and that his principal task is to regain that perfect 

 state. Then along came knowledge of evolution, demonstrating that the 

 first men were not perfect at all. The more we learn of prehistoric men and 

 their predecessors the more we appreciate the fact that they were less "per- 

 fect" in the higher human attributes than are we. This means that man, as 

 found from the dawn of civilization down to the present, represents the 

 finest fruit of the evolutionary process. It does not necessarily mean that no 

 finer fruit will ever be produced, but if superior types of man do arise 

 they win be a new development, not a reversion to a perfect human state 

 once existent but subsequently lost. Accordingly it seems to me that evolu- 

 tion forms the optimistic viewpoint from which to look at man. From this 

 viewpoint we may well believe that the great days for humanity are yet 

 ahead of us, not behind us. 



In the preceding paragraph I spoke bluntly of man as a "risen animal." 

 You may have thought that in so doing I was casting aspersion upon man. 

 Not at all; the emphasis is upon the "risen." In other words, we do not re- 

 gard man as "just an animal"; he is an animal who has achieved heights at- 

 tained by no other inhabitant of this planet. His use of tools has enabled him 

 increasingly to adapt his environment to himself, instead of adapting him- 



