THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



We owe the next attempt to make a science of his- 

 tory and sociology to Spencer. He tried to find a 

 universal law which would express the general evolu- 

 tion of the human race. He proposed the idea that so- 

 ciety is an organism following the general, but quite 

 vague, law that homogeneity always progresses into 

 heterogeneity. As the biologist is apt to classify or- 

 ganisms according to the complexity of their func- 

 tions and structures, so the sociologist assumes that 

 society is the most advanced towards perfection which 

 is the most complex in its functions and construction. 



This analogy is quite a specious one. The biologist 

 does loosely classify species of animals and plants in 

 a series from lower to higher according to the com- 

 plexity of their organization. He may say the oyster 

 is a lower form than the dog, but he does not attribute 

 to the words higher and lower any moral significance 

 or perfection of character. In a biological sense the 

 most perfect organism is that which is constituted to 

 preserve and maintain itself, and complexity very 

 often carries with it weakness and extinction. When 

 evolution is applied to social changes we introduce 

 the new idea of ethics and use the words higher and 

 lower with an ethical interpretation. We cannot say 

 that the most heterogeneous society is the most pro- 

 gressive or the most perfect, as a simple society may 

 have the very highest ideals. From a biological con- 

 ception the Greeks were not as fit as the Hottentots 

 for they could not maintain themselves, largely on 



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