PROGRESS IN EVOLUTION 263 



and the good. When we are at our best the best part 

 of us declares that these are best. A certain type of 

 mind, idealistic we may say, keeps close to these highest 

 values, and conquers the world by other-worldliness. 

 Another type of mind, realistic we may say, is more 

 matter-of-fact, finding the supreme values too aerial. 

 The realists wish to see the goodness of God in the land 

 of the living — that is to say, to see progress in the here 

 and now, not so much in the cosmos as in their own 

 region. There is no contradiction, of course, but there 

 is a difficulty. We are facing one of the deepest dicho- 

 tomies of human temperament, that between idealists 

 and realists, that between the philosophical and the 

 scientific. 



One way of meeting the difficulty may be briefly 

 stated. The true, the beautiful, the good are supreme 

 values — intellectual, emotional, moral — ^the ideals of 

 head, heart, and hand — but below them there are fun- 

 damental values, especially two, (1) the economical 

 use of energy and the increase of material resources, 

 and (2) health (including adaptation to bracing sur- 

 roundings). Without these there cannot be stability 

 or persistence. Would it be progress to have a race 

 of very wise men and women, all invalids ? A vigorous 

 fool would be a great relief. Would it be progress to 

 have a beautiful race, relatively sterile ? W^ould it be 

 progress to have a very good race, without joy ? So 

 must we not say that there are physical and biological 

 pre-conditions of social progress, the physical pre-condi- 

 tion of mastering the powers of Nature, the biological 



