36 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS I 



far as to secure every member of the society in 

 the possession of the means of existence, the 

 struggle for existence, as between man and man, 

 within that society is, ipso facto, at an end. And, 

 as it is undeniable that the most highly civilized 

 societies have substantially reached this position, 

 it follows that, so far as they are concerned, the 

 struggle for existence can play no important part 

 within them. 1 In other words, the kind of evo 

 lution which is brought about in the state of 

 nature cannot take place. 



I have further shown cause for the belief that 

 direct selection, after the fashion of the horticul 

 turist and the breeder, neither has played, nor 

 can play, any important part in the evolution 

 of society ; apart from other reasons, because I 

 do not see how such selection could be practised 

 without a serious weakening, it may be the destruc 

 tion, of the bonds which hold society together. 

 It strikes me that men who are accustomed to 

 contemplate the active or passive extirpation of 

 the weak, the unfortunate, and the superfluous ; 

 who justify that conduct on the ground that it has 

 the sanction of the cosmic process, and is the only 

 way of ensuring the progress of the race ; who, if 



1 Whether the struggle for existence with the state of nature 

 and with other societies, so far as they stand in the relation of 

 the state of nature with it, exerts a selective influence upon modern 

 society, and in what direction, are questions not easy to 

 answer. The problem of the effect of military and industrial 

 warfare upon those who wage it is very complicated. 



