842 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. ii. 



nounced unsatisfactory and misleading. It is beyond ques- 

 tion that the progress of mankind does depend upon the 

 progressive conformity of the order of their conceptions to 

 the order of phenomena ; but, after the inquiry contained in 

 the preceding chapter, I believe no further proof is necessary 

 to convince us that the progress of mankind also depends 

 upon the progressive conformity of their desires to the 

 requirements arising from their aggregation in communities. 

 If civilization is a process of intellectual adaptation, it is 

 also a process of moral adaptation ; and the latter I believe 

 to be the more fundamental of the two. The case is well 

 stated by Mr. Spencer, in the following passage : " Ideas do 

 not govern the world ; the world is governed by feelings, to 

 which ideas serve only as guides. The social mechanism 

 does not rest finally upon opinions ; but almost wholly 



upon character All social phenomena are produced 



by the totality of human emotions and beliefs : of which 

 the emotions are mainly predetermined, while the beliefs are 

 mainly post-determined. Men's desires are chiefly inherited ; 

 but their beliefs are chiefly acquired, and depend on 

 surrounding conditions; and the most important surround- 

 ing conditions depend on the social state which the prevalent 

 desires have produced. The social state at any time existing 

 is the resultant of all the ambitions, self-interests, fears, 

 reverences, indignations, sympathies, etc., of ancestral citizens 

 and existing citizens. The ideas current in this social state 

 must on the average be congruous with the feelings of citizens ; 

 and therefore, on the average, with the social state these 

 feelings have produced. Ideas wholly foreign to this social 

 state cannot be evolved, and, if introduced from without, 

 cannot get accepted — or, if accepted, die out when the 

 temporary phase of feeling which caused their acceptance 

 ends." This statement, I may observe in passing, is well 

 illustrated by the abortive attempts of missionaries to civilize 

 the lower races of mankind by converting them to Cbriati. 



