EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 227 



or ant hill, the concept of the epi-organism is an extension 

 of an interpretive principle beyond the point of validity. In 

 the case of man, the evolutionary background of mammals 

 and primates has been a trend toward greater individuality, 

 very definitely away from any merging or integrating into a 

 machine-like state. 



Trends in evolution are sometimes referred to as a basis 

 on which an ethic may be established, but like the increase 

 of organization just reviewed they are inconclusive and 

 arbitrary. Specific and special trends are hardly likely to 

 yield a believable ethic since many of them lead to what we 

 have called, from an anthropocentric point of view, blind 

 alleys. General over-all trends like increase in number and 

 diversity of organisms would seem to have more promise, 

 but here again difficulties arise. The concept of dynamic 

 nature and the abundant life would assume that mere in- 

 crease in life is good while that which brings about a de- 

 crease is evil. In this case the ethic itself is not ethical since it 

 would involve unlimited crowding of the habitat and even 

 more struggle and dreadful death than ordinarily prevails. 

 We have already pictured in our discussion of human over- 

 population the misery that is the lot of a people when num- 

 bers outrun subsistence. 



It should be obvious by now that no simple, single solu- 

 tion will be found for the problem of a naturalistic ethic. 

 The tooth-and-claw concept does not give us an acceptable 

 ethic; but there have been plenty of teeth and claws in evo- 

 lution, and higher types of organisms, even man, have 

 climbed upward in part by this ugly means. On the other 

 hand, pure mutual aid, although much more desirable as an 

 ethic and closer to a true conception of the evolutionary 

 process, is not in itself a complete solution to the problem of 

 ethics. The various specific trends, such as we have re- 

 viewed, offer even less hope of a solution. Rather clearly, it 

 would seem, the search for an ethic makes a false start when 

 it seeks some one factor as the basic and all-inclusive source. 



