82 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS n 



respects, is opposed to that which leads to success 

 in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of 

 ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; 

 in place of thrusting aside, or treading down, all 

 competitors, it requires that the individual shall 

 not merely respect, but shall help his fellows ; its 

 influence is directed, not so much to the survival 

 of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as pos 

 sible to survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial 

 theory of existence. It demands that each man 

 who enters into the enjoyment of the advantages 

 of a polity shall be mindful of his debt to those 

 who have laboriously constructed it ; and shall 

 take heed that no act of his weakens the fabric in 

 which he has been permitted to live. Laws and 

 moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing 

 the cosmic process and reminding the individual 

 of his duty to the community, to the protection 

 and influence of which he owes, if not existence 

 itself, at least the life of something better than a 

 brutal savage. 



It is from neglect of these plain considerations 

 that the fanatical individualism 21 of our time 

 attempts to apply the analogy of cosmic nature to 

 society. Once more we have a misapplication of 

 the stoical injunction to follow nature ; the duties 

 of the individual to the state are forgotten, and his 

 tendencies to self-assertion are dignified by the 

 name of rights. It is seriously debated whether 

 the members of a community are justified in 



