viii Preface. 



lemma might be escaped, if the fact and the fancy 

 entering into current evolutionism were kept 

 apart and dealt out separately. The mind s nat 

 ural craving for knowledge could then be satisfied 

 without detriment ; for it is only when science is 

 adulterated with nescience that it becomes un 

 wholesome and poisonous. 



The object of the present volume is to distin 

 guish between science and speculation in the ap 

 plication of Darwinism to morals. The results 

 of evolutionary science in the domain of matter 

 and in the domain of life are everywhere taken 

 for granted ; the philosophical and, more espe 

 cially, the ethical theories currently associated with 

 them are subjected to the most searching scrutiny 

 I have been able to make. As it has been pre 

 tended that the doctrine of evolution invests 

 ethics witk a fiew scientific character, I first ex 

 amine the various m ethodsof ethics and attempt 

 to determine under what conditions alone ethics 

 can become a science. (This first chapter should 

 be omitted by the general reader not interested in 

 the logic of ethics.) &quot;Whether Darwinian ethics 

 is a piece of science or of speculation appears in 

 the sequel. But before the question is decided 

 we must know what is meant by Darwinism. 

 Accordingly, the second chapter gives an exposi- 



