THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



cial and moral progress admit that such progress can- 

 not be claimed for the few of superior ability who 

 have appeared throughout historical times. They ad- 

 mit that the best amongst the Greeks have not been 

 surpassed by the best today, but contend that progress 

 lies in the wider diffusion of ability and culture. Even 

 such a progress cannot be admitted: the common 

 people are as ready to seize on immediate benefits and 

 material boons as they ever were, and they still fall 

 as foolishly under one kind of dominance after an- 

 other. Can Professor Conklin be so shortsighted as 

 not to see that he has advanced an argument which 

 is, if true, convincing proof against the idea of prog- 

 ress of society by biological evolution"? For society, 

 as a whole, to progress there must be a continuous 

 growth in the standards of civilization and in the 

 ability of its leaders as well as in the diffusion of 

 ability and character. Unless the fittest individuals 

 constantly advance in succeeding generations, prog- 

 ress will cease when society attains to their stationary 

 standards. This is merely the fundamental idea of 

 natural selection. Let us suppose that a few individu- 

 als of a species are possessed of a slightly advanta- 

 geous trait and that, by extermination or by the 

 spread of the trait, all the individuals come to pos- 

 sess it to the same degree, there will be no evolution 

 of a new species unless there is also a continuous in- 

 crease of the trait amongst a few favoured individuals 

 in succeeding generations. To say that society may 



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