Social Environment 



man nature as it is today. As a consequence, 

 he has concluded that his family tree does not 

 run back to the gods, but to the beasts. Out 

 of the newly accumulated facts he has built a 

 system of thought, known in general as the 

 evolutionary philosophy, through which he has 

 endeavored to give a consistent account of the 

 development of life in its ascent from the pro- 

 tozoa up to civilized man. If these new 

 theories remained merely in the realm of spec- 

 ulation they would not, of course, have any 

 practical interest, but the fact is that they are 

 as profoundly influencing modern life as Cal- 

 vin's and Locke's ideas influenced a former age. 

 A consideration of them, though seeming to 

 lead far afield, will therefore bring us face to 

 face with the realities of today. 



Because of its emphasis on concrete facts 

 established through the evidence of the senses, 

 modern thought is called materialistic. So far 

 as it bears upon man and his civilization, it is 

 mainly biological; that is, it views man from 

 the standpoint of his animal origin in competi- 

 tion with the various elements of his environ- 

 ment, and subject to natural laws. It may be 

 objected that the biological point of view as it 

 interprets modern life has been overempha- 



