38 Importance of Darwinian Ethics. 



be attempted so long as scientists remain convinced 

 of the finality of the ethical science and philos 

 ophy associated with the name of Darwin. 



It is, of course, no unusual thing to find the 

 plastic, world-moving thought of a genius crys 

 tallizing into the barren dogma of a school 

 wherein the master s name is invoked to stem 

 the very march of knowledge which he himself 

 set in motion. But doubt, as the case of Dar 

 win happily illustrates, is the condition of all in 

 tellectual progress. And the true heirs of Dar 

 win are not the dogmatists of the schools, but the 

 open-minded, candid, fact-revering inquirers who 

 walk in the spirit of the master. Socrates does 

 not lay violent hands upon his father Parmenides, 

 because he points out the difficulties in the Ele- 

 atic doctrine of being and non-being. Nor does 

 an investigator who ardently admires Darwin s 

 scientific achievements, and sees in the man a 

 very embodiment of the true scientific spirit, re 

 nounce his allegiance in criticising Darwin s 

 treatment of the questions of morals. And noth 

 ing, I imagine, is to-day such a hindrance to a 

 true science of ethics as the lack of a right un 

 derstanding with Darwinism. To supply this 

 want is the primary aim of the following pages, 

 though incidentally, it is hoped, a beginning may 



