BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



by a perfected integration. These two processes of integra- 

 tion and differentiation, moreover, must keep pace with 

 each other, unless social evolution is to end in a hard and 

 fast solidarity destructive of individual initiative on the 

 one hand, or in an inept anarchy destructive of social power 

 on the other. 



While, therefore, Spencer suggested the organismic con- 

 ception of society, he was fundamentally opposed to a 

 primary conclusion that was soon drawn from the analogy. 

 It was not long before certain socialistic writers seized 

 upon this view in order to strengthen the plea for the 

 reorganization of political and economic institutions so as 

 to give larger application to principles of social solidarity. 

 It is in consequence of a certain inherent opposition of the 

 individual and the collectivity that all the social sciences 

 have struggled with the question whether, and to what 

 extent, the community or the individual constitutes the 

 end or the means. As noted above, Spencer was unequivocal 

 in his answer and, as usual, philosophical certainty was 

 some stages removed from reality. There has been much 

 talk of individual rights and a tendency to set up inviolable 

 principles regarding them, but one observes that these 

 rights are repeatedly invaded by the socially constituted 

 authorities nominally set up to protect the individual in 

 his exercise of them. The basic rule of practice seems to be 

 that the individual has the right to act in his own interest 

 so long as his action does not conflict with what, at the 

 time, the social group conceives to be its own larger 

 interest. Individual rights derive from social approval and 

 depend, for their realization, on the state of group opinion. 



Now the reason for this situation would seem to be that 

 the struggle for existence on the human plane has always 

 been carried out on two levels. There is within the social 

 group the struggle of individuals for existence, power, and 

 prestige; and there is the overshadowing struggle between 



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