506- PATTEN— COOPERATION AS A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION. 



II. 



That cooperation is an important agent in human and in animal 

 societies has often been recognized, but, so far as the author is 

 aware, it has always been considered as something unusual or ex- 

 ceptional in nature, and has been chiefly or solely attributed to the 

 instinctive or intelligent actions of social organisms. 



We maintain, however, that cooperation is a universal creative 

 and preservative agent. Its sphere of activity includes cosmic, as 

 well as organic, social and mental processes ;, its directive influence 

 is as commanding in the one field as in the other, and its creative and 

 preservative power is no less effective whether it is called into action 

 by " trial and error," or by " accident," or by " design." 



The broader interpretation herein proposed provides a rational 

 basis for the identification of the two great protagonists in nature: 

 construction and destruction ; it helps us to visualize the evolution 

 of world power through the conversion of disorder into order ; and 

 it provides a common starting point, a common agency, and a com- 

 mon terminology for all students whose subject matter is the product 

 of evolution, or growth. 



The familiar terms " evolution," the " struggle for existence " and 

 the " survival of the fittest " are essentially meaningless and unsatis- 

 fying terms because they fail to indicate what is good and what is 

 evil, or to give any comprehensive explanation of how things come 

 into being, why they endure, and how they increase in power. These 

 questions lie at the root of all organic or inorganic products ; they are 

 the fundamental questions which all sciences and all religions seek 

 to answer. 



But when we realize that evolution is the summation of power 

 through cooperation, that what we call " evil " is that which prevents 

 or destroys cooperation, and " good " is that which perpetuates or 

 improves cooperation ; when we realize that the " struggle for exist- 

 ence " is a struggle to find better ways and means of cooperation, and 

 the " fittest " is the one that cooperates best — we shall then realize 

 that science and religion and government stand on common ground 

 and have a common purpose. Until this basic truth, is recognized 

 there can be no common goal for intellectual endeavor ; no common 



