Preface. ix 



tion of the Darwinian theory, comparing and 

 contrasting it with the more general doctrine of 

 evolutionism, whose history and meaning are also 

 briefly traced. Then follow chapters on the phil 

 osophical interpretation and the ethical bearings 

 of Darwinism. The fifth chapter is devoted to 

 an examination of the ethical speculations which 

 Darwin grafted upon his biological science. 

 These chapters confirming the conclusion reached 

 in the first chapter, that a scientific, as opposed to 

 a speculative, ethic can be constructed only by 

 adopting the historical method, the last chapter 

 has to show what light may be thrown upon ethi 

 cal problems by tracing the actual development of 

 moral ideals and institutions, of which, for ob 

 vious reasons, the domestic virtues are here taken 

 as typical illustration. 



The work is primarily the outcome of my own 

 reflective needs. It has cleared up in my own 

 mind the confusion between guesses and facts, 

 which is &quot; the Great Bad &quot; in evolutionary ethics. 

 I am not without hope that it may also prove 

 clarifying to other minds. Not, of course, that 

 I would presume to instruct trained philosophical 

 experts ; but I have in view the increasingly 

 large number of intelligent men and women who, 

 without making a special study of philosophy, 



