CHAPTER IX 

 EOOISM IN THE HUMAN RACE 



Egoism ob Altruism? 



Recognizing that civilization has been founded 

 upon instinct, using that term in a broad sense, our 

 next question is to determine what kind of instincts 

 have been concerned. There are two quite contra- 

 dictory classes of instincts actuating mankind, the 

 egoistic and the altruistic. The first of the two runs 

 through living nature and is found among all ani- 

 mals. The second begins among the higher animals 

 but is chiefly developed in man. The first lies at the 

 foundation of the far-reaching law of natural selec- 

 tion. The second, to a certain extent, is opposed to 

 the law of natural selection. In trying to determine 

 the guiding forces in social evolution we will first con- 

 sider man's relation to the law of natural selection 

 and then the relation of the altruistic impulses to his 

 evolution. 



It has sometimes been said that mankind has freed 

 itself from the law of natural selection. Man has so 

 evidently made himself master of inorganic nature, 

 and has so completely obtained control over his 

 enemies in the organic world, that the struggle 

 for existence which presses upon other animals 

 so severely has been thought not to affect him. 

 When we remember that the struggle for existence 

 which rules the animal world is based primarily 

 upon the fact that more individuals are born than 



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