MODERN IDEAS OF EVOLUTION 



CHAPTER V 



MONISTIC EVOLUTION ! 



WE have already seen that modern evolution in some 

 of its phases is not inconsistent with theism, or even 

 with Christian belief. It is indeed regarded by some of 

 its advocates as a reverent recognition of the mode of 

 development of the plans of Eternal Wisdom, and as 

 capable of throwing light on these plans in the 

 domain of the spiritual as well as in that of the 

 natural. But many of its most ardent advocates, 

 whether scientific or popular, go far beyond the 

 bounds of theism, and enter on atheistic or agnostic 

 speculations, which they regard as the logical and 

 legitimate outcome of the hypothesis of evolution. 

 Perhaps the most eminent advocate of this extreme 

 school is Ernst Haeckel, of Jena, whose views have 

 been presented to the world in his works on The 

 History of Creation and The Evolution of Man, as 

 well as in many addresses and papers. They may be 



1 This chapter has already been published in part in the Princeton 

 Review for 1880, p. 444. 



