EVOLUTION AND SOCIETY 



nothing in the steady sway of the universal hiw of 

 physical force: "There is a gradual advance towards 

 harmony between man's mental nature and the con- 

 ditions of his existence. After finding that from it are 

 deducible the various characteristics of Evolution, 

 we finally draw from it a warrant for the belief, that 

 Evolution can end only in the establishment of the 

 greatest perfection and the most complete hap}H- 

 ness."^"* As the doctrine of evolution by natural selec- 

 tion is founded on the extinction of species in order 

 that new ones more fit to struggle may appear, we 

 must conclude that the goal of evolution lies in our 

 extinction and the appearance of the species of super- 

 man. At any rate, this is the doctrine of progress and 

 of eugenics; if we can find solace for the sorrows and 

 failures of our own lives in the contemplation of the 

 complete happiness of this far remote superman, 

 thousands of years hence, the world should bless its 

 author. Fiske, in a glow of sentimental enthusiasm, 

 describes this blessed state as one which : "Must even- 

 tually go far to realize the dream of the philosophic 

 poet — of a Parliament of Man, a Federation of the 

 World, 



When the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in 

 universal law, 



and when the desires of each individual shall be in 

 proximate equilibrium with the means of satisfying 



^^ First Principles, p. 517. 



C 329 1 



