224 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



prodigious than that of the ethical core; it has strengthened itself 

 by the adoption of power politics, while modern science has armed 

 it. We got rid of small wars by the fusion of combative tribes, only 

 to find ourselves overwhelmed with the colossal wars of this present 

 time.* 



Sir Arthur fills 240 pages with his exposition of this tooth- 

 and-claw tribal ethics which he thinks is inherent in evolu- 

 tion. Again, like T. H. Huxley, he contrasts human or anti- 

 evolutionary ethics with that of evolution; but, unlike 

 Huxley, he never faces up to which set of ethics should be 

 followed or how they are to be reconciled. Keith tells us 

 that he had nearly finished his book when he learned that 

 Herbert Spencer in Principles of Ethics had anticipated his 

 dual ethics with the "code of Amity" and "code of En- 

 mity." Keith points out that Spencer had landed himself in 

 an ethical crux from which there was no way out, but does 

 not seem to have realized that his own position was no bet- 

 ter. 



Here again is a failure to understand that the innate drive 

 toward companionship forms a basic ethic. There is no more 

 thoroughly established fact in science than the existence of 

 this drive toward mutual aid. Its expression in any normal 

 individual, animal or human, will depend on circumstances. 

 In other words, ethics is both innate and experienced or 

 learned. Keith's terrifying picture of endless intertribal con- 

 flict and anarchy is exaggerated. Moreover, what there was 

 of anarchy and conflict was the result of f alse-to-f act indoc- 

 trination of the individuals within the tribe and not, as Keith 

 insists, an inevitable and natural individual reaction. Evi- 

 dence is also lacking for Keith's claim that our present na- 

 tions are natural evolutionary outgrowths of the tribe. 

 Toynbee and other historians show clearly enough from the 

 record that our present-day nationalism with all its danger- 

 ous aspects is quite modern, in part a product of the eco- 



* Sir Arthur Keith, Evolution and Ethics (New York: G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, 1947), p. 113. 



