Social Evolution 331 



been said above it is evident that this statement is 

 entirely without basis, and therefore that the whole 

 scheme of mystic and highly irrational philosophy 

 which he founds upon it at once falls to the ground. 

 There is no such necessary antagonism as that which 

 he alleges. On the' contrary, in the most truly 

 progressive societies, even now, for the great mass 

 of the individuals ' composing them the interests of 

 the social organism and of the individual are largely 

 identical instead of antagonistic; and even where 

 this is not true, there is a sanction of individual 

 reason, if we use the word reason properly, for con- 

 duct on the part of the individual which is subordi- 

 nate to the welfare of the general society. 



We can measure the truth of his statements by 

 applying them, not to great societies in the abstract, 

 but to small social organisms in the concrete. Take 

 for instance the life of a regiment or the organiza- 

 tion of a police department or fire department. The 

 first duty of a regiment is to fight, and fighting 

 means the death and disabling of a large proportion 

 of the men in the regiment. The case against the 

 identity of interests between the individual and the 

 organism, as put by Mr. Kidd, would be far strong- 

 er in a regiment than in any ordinary civilized 

 society of the day. Yet as a matter of fact we know 

 that in the great multitude of regiments there is 

 much more subordination of the individual to the 

 organism than is the case in any civilized State 

 taken as a whole. Moreover, this subordination is 

 greatest in precisely those regiments where the aver- 



