XXVI 



SOME POPULAR FALLACIES 



HAVING analyzed our concept of optimism, we 

 found three varieties : oldest and most general, the 

 animal optimism which has for its most complete 

 expression, &quot; Fate cannot touch me I have dined 

 to-day&quot;; secondly, the optimism of faith, which 

 has for its most sublime and quintessential ex 

 pression, not the insane cry of Tertullian, &quot;Credo 

 quia impossibile,&quot; but the insuperable conviction 

 of Job, &quot;Though He slay me, yet will I trust in 

 Him.&quot; In subsequent chapters we must consider 

 the grounds of the third variety of optimism, which 

 we call rational; and it goes without saying that 

 here evolution is the &quot;master- light of all our 

 seeing.&quot; 



But ere we consider the manner in which op 

 timism may be grounded on evolution, it is neces 

 sary first to stigmatize as fallacious the popular 

 notion that evolution teaches the necessary per- 

 fectioning of man and man s lot in time coming. 

 Science knows no law of progress, but a law of 

 change. Progress is obviously an anthropic term, 

 denoting merely an ideal of ours ; and if this ideal 

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