228 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



At the outset of such a search we must reaUze that a natural- 

 istic ethic, based as it is on an unimaginably complex evolu- 

 tionary process, will be much more relative and elusive than 

 we had at first supposed. 



Like all else in nature, a naturalistic ethic will itself be 

 evolving. It will be flexible and relative in any given situa- 

 tion. Perhaps, as has been suggested in opening this chapter, 

 the search will have more chance of success if we assign for 

 the comparison of ethics the broad criteria of mutual aid 

 and understanding, used in the spirit of Bertrand Russell's 

 definition of morality, "the good life is the life inspired by 

 love and guided by knowledge." I have made an earnest ef- 

 fort in this thesis to show that greater understanding is the 

 real trend in evolution. Beginning with the innate mind-in- 

 matter-energy substrate of the cosmos, I have traced out an 

 uninterrupted continuity to the body and mind of man and 

 to his social life, and thence to his ethics. I feel that there is 

 undeniable evidence in evolution for this concept of mind- 

 in-matter, and for the ever-receding goal of understanding. 

 I have not assigned to man the ultimate position in the trend 

 toward understanding, but man does represent something of 

 its great possibilities. I have assumed from the very nature of 

 the infinite succession of finite cosmic and organic config- 

 urations which evolution has brought and has yet to bring 

 into existence that the process will eternally fall short of the 

 goal of ultimate understanding. 



On this planet and at this moment there is a high-level ex- 

 pression of the cosmic trend in the mind of man. That mind, 

 we should have every reason to expect, can go still higher in 

 the time it may yet exist as an organic organization, a time 

 that may extend tens of millions of years into the future. It 

 is becoming evident, however, that the heights to which 

 man may now climb must be reached through a conscious 

 control of the same process by which he has reached the 

 present level. I have tried to make clear in this thesis that 

 ultimately in the evolution of higher mental levels nature 



