vin DARWINISM AND DESIGN 143 



What seems to happen is rather this : we start with 

 adaptation, with a sufficient equilibrium between the 

 organism and its conditions of life to allow of its existence 

 (for a season). But this equilibrium is constantly en 

 dangered by the changes in its conditions of life ; hence 

 there is constant need for an adaptive response to these 

 changes, for novelty of adaptation. This response some 

 somehow manage to effect, and so survive ; the rest do 

 not, and therefore perish. And it is this process which 

 we dignify with the name of Natural Selection. But it 

 is the name only for the mechanism which just keeps 

 alive the sacred fire of life ; it neither lights it nor improves 

 its radiance. Nor do we come upon any incontestable 

 traces of improvement until we come upon the traces of 

 intelligence. It is only with beings that aim at ends, 

 conceive goods and frame ideals of better living, that there 

 begins that funding of the power over life which renders 

 possible the pursuit, not of mere life, but of good life, and 

 transfigures the struggle for existence by an ethical ideal. 

 Natural Selection is a universal condition of life, but it 

 is not for us a model or a guide. It is non-moral and 

 relieves us of no moral responsibility ; it remains within 

 our power to mould it well or ill. 



V. It will, perhaps, be objected that in the anxiety to 

 invalidate the anti-teleological implications of Darwinism 

 we have gone too far, and denied its whole scientific 

 importance. For what is the value of Natural Selection 

 if it does not explain Evolution ? Such a result is too 

 monstrously paradoxical to be accepted as the outcome of 

 any argument, however solid it may seem. 



This objection should be welcomed by anticipation, 

 because it leads on to a discussion of the real scientific 

 value of the Darwinian theory, and in so doing traces to 

 its real source the prima facie conflict between Darwinism 

 and teleology. In reality there is not involved in any 

 thing that has been said any disparagement of Darwin s 

 tireless scientific labour, nor does anything that has been 

 said in the slightest detract from the permanent value and 

 immense importance of his work. What is disputed is 



