CHAPTER XVII 



THE METAPHYSICS OF NATURAL SELECTION 



I. Chance in relation to purpose, as accident As absence of design In relation 



to law ; as blind law As blind combination of laws Compare with the 

 last the scientific or mechanical view of the world ; a number of separate 

 substances ruled by a number of independent laws Good enough for 

 science, not for philosophy Darwin ought not to assume things as really 

 disconnected, merely because he has not needed to investigate their connec- 

 tion As if organism and environment were accidentally brought together 

 Or as if organism and organism were mere rivals (They are rivals !) Or 

 as if force and force were disconnected ? 



II. Darwin treats variation as casual, i.e. as a thing with no bearing in itself on 



the purpose of the species His theory allows this assumption But does 

 not prove it We all habitually understand the theory in that sense, e.g. in 

 contrasting natural selection with use-inheritance On the fact, evidence is 

 wanted Conceivably variation may choose very irregularly between many 

 fixed possibilities This seems to point back to disconnected laws, as in 

 last section. 



III. Even on Darwin's own view he is hardly entitled to call the process of 

 evolution natural selection Aggregate range of possible variation is fixed 

 by the nature of the material Two agencies must be taken together Of 

 the two the varying organism, not the blindly selecting environment, seems 

 the better to account for rise of new qualities Summary of I. II. III. 



IV. Kinds of natural selection, A, B, and C B exists ! If organic evolution 

 is a fact, C exists ! Accelerating any other evolutionary force that may 

 exist, and of course involving B If A is found alongside of C, A must have 

 a separate field where C cannot enter, else inconsiderable Natural selection 

 (C) lasts as long as nature is nature Even along with (the more rapid 

 force of) animal intelligence True reason checks it Does natural selection 

 ever work by itself (A) ? Higher animals with fewer births evolve as 

 quickly as lower ; has a new force arisen ? or was natural selection never 

 the leading force ? [Can we regard intelligence as the new evolving force ? 

 Dr. Mellone assumes its operation everywhere !] 



V. Can natural selection apply to men ? Biologically Struggle with beasts is 



over Famine (A) is rare, and of doubtful tendency Pestilence (C) does 

 harm Vice (B) Crime (B) War (selects the wrong way) Religious 

 celibacy (ib.) Summary Sociologically Mr. Kidd's insistence on struggle 

 is really biological ; is unproved ; is not an insistence on natural selection 

 Ethically Mr. Alexander's competition of "Ideals" is exaggerated 

 And itself implies reason and sympathy Mr. Sutherland's elimination of 

 evil doers ignores positive causes of moral progress Exemplified typically 

 in Jesus Christ. 



