xviii INTEODUCTION 



were useless in the economy of nature until a 

 sufficient amount of intelligence had been reached. 



If we allow that all this has a meaning or an 

 object, we arrive at the conclusion that the object 

 of psychological evolution is the development of the 

 human mind, to which the development of his body 

 was only a preliminary. 



But the intellect of man, however noble, is not the 

 highest part of him. This is only an exaltation of 

 characters which he shares with the brute creation. 

 It is in his moral and religious nature that we see 

 the true human characteristics which separate him 

 from all other animals. This psychological evolu- 

 tion is partly utilitarian, partly ethical, partly 

 religious. Ethical evolution is founded on animal 

 instincts, such as the love of offspring ; and, although 

 to some extent the product of intellect, it is chiefly 

 due to sympathy as opposed to selfishness, and to 

 conscious efforts at improvement, to what is called 

 the prompting of the conscience. For even in the 

 higher phases of ethical and religious development, 

 progress is effected by the same process of conflict by 

 which it is secured in biological evolution. Material 

 and intellectual progress are due to conflict between 

 one individual and others, while moral and religious 

 progress are secured by the conflict of each man with 

 himself. This was not possible until man had 

 obtained the power of free choice ; and this, there- 

 fore, was the true beginning of ethical evolution. 

 Ethical character is acquired after birth, and is not 

 transmitted physiologically from parent to offspring. 

 Each human being has to work out his own 



